It ’ s important that a woman can be fighting for the victory in the world championship because it ’ s good for other girls to see that this is possible .” -CARRASCO
It ’ s important that a woman can be fighting for the victory in the world championship because it ’ s good for other girls to see that this is possible .” -CARRASCO
But while convalescing from a crash shortly afterwards , the Finn received a letter from Bernie Ecclestone ( who , at the time had a heavy , but thankfully short-lived , involvement in motorcycle racing ) informing her that she was ‘ not qualified ’ to compete the following season . Clearly , nothing had changed . Despite occasional outstanding performances by women in the male-dominated sport of motorcycle racing , by the start of the 2017 season no female had won a world championship race - perhaps unsurprisingly given the additional barriers they faced . But that all changed at Portimao in Portugal on Sunday , September 17 , 2017 when a 20-year-old Spanish rider called Ana Carrasco came out on top in an epic drag race to the finish line in the World Supersport 300 Championship race . In doing so , she became the first woman in history to win a motorcycle road racing world championship race . And while the significance of the moment wasn ’ t exactly lost on Carrasco , she thinks like a racer first , and a woman second . “ At the time I was not thinking about the significance of this ” she says . “ I always just try to ride as hard as I can and try to achieve results – I don ’ t think about being a woman . So , in that
moment I was just happy because I ’ d won the race but after some days I start to realise what I had achieved . It ’ s important that a woman can be fighting for the victory in the world championship because it ’ s good for other girls to see that this is possible .” After finishing the 2017 season in eighth place overall , Carrasco came out of the traps ready for a proper fight in 2018 , setting pole position at Imola , winning the race , and taking the lead in the world championship . After another win at Donington Park in England , Carrasco now has a 16-point lead with just two rounds of the championship remaining . This makes her the first woman ever to lead a motorcycle racing world championship . It seems an incredibly young age for anyone – male of female – to be leading a world championship but Carrasco was practically born into the saddle . “ I started riding when I was three years old because my family was always involved in the motorcycle world ” she says . “ My father was a race mechanic since before I was born so when I was three I started riding my big sister ’ s minimoto because she wasn ’ t interested in it . So that was a good thing for me !”
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