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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