Title contender Herrera triumphs in WorldWCR Race 1

Race 1 Highlights:
Title contender Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Factory Team) achieved what she set out to do today, storming to victory in the penultimate WorldWCR race of the season and leaving everything to play for in tomorrow’s finale.

With the bit firmly between her teeth as the race got underway, Herrera took an early lead ahead of championship leader Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team), Beatriz Neila (Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha) and Sara Sanchez (511 Terra&Vita Racing Team). Separated by half a second at most, this quarter took turns out front in the early stages of this 11-lap thriller.

It was Sanchez who very much took charge over the second half of the race, setting the pace out front and doing a very effective job of preventing either Herrera or Carrasco from passing her.

A chaotic final lap brought an unfortunate crash for race leader Sanchez, who was thus denied a likely top three finish. While Herrera profited from the situation to move into the lead and snatch the win, Carrasco and Neila battled it out to the line, with Ana just pipping Beatriz to the post by 0.021 of a second.

With championship leader Carrasco banking another 20 points today, the Spaniard now holds a 13-point lead over Herrera with another 25 up for grabs tomorrow. The inaugural WorldWCR title will be awarded to one of these two riders tomorrow.

Now out of the running for the title, Sanchez continues to hold third in the general standings, a position she will be looking to defend in Race 2. Not least because Neila lies just 14 points behind thanks to her third-place finish today.

Fourth across the line, a consistently strong Roberta Ponziani (Yamaha Motoxracing WCR Team) secured her eighth top five finish of the 2024 season and maintains fifth place in the general standings.

Pakita Ruiz (PS Racing Team 46+1) and wildcard entry Chloe Jones (GR Motorsport) fought long and hard for fifth position, a battle ultimately won by the Spaniard. The Brit nevertheless put in a very strong debut performance, finishing her first WorldWCR race just 0.2 of a second outside the top five.

Finishing P7, Tayla Ralph (TAYCO Motorsport) scored more solid points ahead of Jessica Howden (Team Trasimeno), Mallory Dobbs (Sekhmet Motorcycle Racing Team) and Isis Carreno (AD78 FIM Latinoamerica by Team GP3), with this trio of riders crossing the line within a second of each other.

Having set the fastest time in Race 1, Sanchez will be in pole position for the final race of the 2024 season, just ahead of Herrera, Neila and Carrasco.

The latter stages of the race unfortunately brought crashes for wildcard Sonia Lloyd, Emily Bondi (YART Zelos Black Knights Team) and Adela Ourednickova (DaftMotoracing by Smrz), although the riders were fortunately unhurt.

Championship Standings:

• Carrasco (228 points) continues to lead the championship with just one race to go.
• Herrera moves five points closer to Ana, separated from the leader by just thirteen points (215).
• Sanchez lies third in the standings (166), closely followed by Neila (152), fourth.
  Ponziani rounds out the top five with 122 points.

Key Points:
Pole position: Sara Sanchez (511 Terra&Vita Racing Team) 1’51.671
Race 1 winner: Maria Herrera | Klint Forward Factory Team
Race fastest lap: Sara Sanchez (511 Terra&Vita Racing Team) – 1’51.533

P1 | Maria Herrera | Klint Forward Factory Team
“I didn’t know if I’d be able to win today but knew I had strong pace and good corner speed. I followed Sara for the best part of the race, but I knew that if I wanted to close the points gap to Ana, I needed to try to win rather than settle for third. To be honest, I feel that the bike is still slow along the straight, and we need to try to find something there for Race 2. In any case, the strategy for tomorrow will be to attack through every corner. And if Sara is there between me and Ana then even better! I’ll start from the front row, which is good, now we just have to see what we can do.”

P2 | Ana Carrasco | Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team
“I knew the race would involve four or five riders out front and I was right. I tried to push early on to see if we could reduce the size of the group, but it was almost impossible with the wind. I saw that Sara was pushing and so I chose to sit in third and wait until the last lap to avoid being caught up in a battle. I felt really good on the bike and knew I had strong pace. On the last lap, I tried to make a pass through turn 6 but I was a bit wide, and Maria got past me. I recovered fast from that but then another small mistake meant that Beatriz also passed me. From there, I just pushed to try and recover second position, and we were able to do that. Yes, it’s true that I wanted to win today, but in terms of the championship, I have to be happy with second.”

P3 | Beatriz Neila | Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha
“I’m racing here at home at Jerez and so I really wanted to be able to do something special here this weekend. I had no idea how the race would go, but in the end, we were able to cross the line third, which is something incredible for me. I was fighting so hard and am so pleased with the result today. I was also aware of the championship situation and didn’t want to create any problems for Maria or Ana, running a clean race, which we did. I want to thank everybody, the team of course, and my family, who are here with me. I think we have the potential to do it again tomorrow; I’ll try my best!”

WorldWCR Race 1 Results
1. María Herrera (Klint Forward Factory Team)
2. Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team) +0.585s
3. Beatriz Neila (Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +0.606s
4. Roberta Ponziani (Yamaha Motoxracing WCR Team) +14.322s
5. Pakita Ruiz (PS Racing Team 46+1) +19.733s
6. Chloe Jones (GR Motorsport) +19.974s

Championship Standings
1. Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros. Racing Yamaha Team) 228 points
2. Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Factory Team) 215 points
3. Sara Sanchez (511 Terra&Vita Racing Team) 166 points

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©Words/Images are from official press release posted courtesy of WorldWCR