Ana Carrasco, a 20-year-old from Spain, became the first woman to win a world championship motorcycle race on Sunday in Portimao, Portugal.
Riding a Kawasaki, Carrasco raced to victory by less than a tenth of a second in a race that is part of a lower-tier series created to provide opportunities for promising riders.
Carrasco has been riding in international competition since 2013, when at age 16 she became the first woman in 12 years to score points in a world championship race. But she finished mostly outside the top 20 in that competition, called Moto3, and left it after three years.
This season she got a chance in a new series, Supersport 300, that was designed for up-and-coming riders. After a series of finishes ranging from 7th to 14th in the season’s first six races, Carrasco posted her breakthrough finish on Sunday.
“I am very happy about this result,” Carrasco told World SBK. “We have worked very hard and we have been making progress in each race.”
Though women have occasionally turned up for a race or two over the years, their participation in top-level motorcycle racing has been spotty. A women-only series lasted only two years before being scrapped after last season.
In other motor sports around the world, the story has been mostly the same. Janet Guthrie raced in the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500 in 1977, but her pioneering did not lead to regular participation for many women.
By far the most famous women’s racer, Danica Patrick, won an Indy Car race in 2008 and moved on to Nascar. But after five years as a full-time driver on the main circuit, mostly finishing out of the top 20, she lost her job last week with Stewart-Haas Racing, and her driving future is unclear.
“Women will never be a majority, this is clear,” said Carrasco, who started riding motorcycles when she was 3 years old. “I suppose there will be more women in the entry list, but ultimately what is hoped for is that we all have the same opportunities and that the world championships are the best.”
