WorldSBK: More details on the Women’s Motorcycling World Championship

More details on the inaugural FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship have been announced.

The FIM Women’s World Championship was first announced in April, confirming that it would run alongside WorldSBK. Beginning in 2024, the World Championship will be held across six rounds.

It will be a single manufacturer Championship, with the Yamaha YZF-R7 chosen as the bike of choice. A single technical and logistic partner will oversee the twin-cylinder machines to ensure a level playing field.

Riders must be a minimum of 18 years old, with riders able to race in the Championship under a team name. For the season it will cost a rider €25,000 for a full season, including the bike, Pirelli tyres, race fuel, and racing service.

Pirelli prize money will be available with global broadcast coverage expected for the inaugural season. At each round, there will be Superpoles on Friday, Race 1 on Saturday, and Race 2 on Sunday.

Applications open this month (13^th November) and are open until the end of January next year (31^st January).

The season will begin in June at Misano before heading to Donington Park for round two in July. Portimao and the new Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary will take place in August. The new Cremona Circuit will hold round five in September before ending the season at Jerez in October.

Full calendar:

1. Emilia Romagna Round, Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” – June 14th-16th
2. UK Round, Donington Park Circuit – July 12th-14th
3. Portuguese Round, Autodromo Internacional do Algarve – August 9th-11th
4. Hungarian Round, Balaton Park Circuit – August 23rd-25th
5. Italian Round, Cremona Circuit – September 20th-22nd
6. Spanish Round, Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto – October 11th-13^th

There have been similar series in car racing, previously W-Series and now F1 Academy, hoping to bring female talent forward. After the inaugural season of F1 Academy, the Champion, Marta Garcia, has received a fully funded FRECA (Formula Regional European Championship) drive.

Jorge Viegas, FIM President said: “In the FIM, we have been working very hard to include more and more women in racing in the last 20 years, since we created the Women Commission. We already have Women’s Championships in Motocross, Enduro, and Trial, and we are going to have Speedway very soon

“When we started to think about a Circuit Racing Championship, Dorna embraced this project and we’ve been working together since April, and I think Gregorio (Lavilla) did a very good job.

“There is a lot of demand from women to join this Championship. There will be women coming from Japan, from the United States, from Latin America, and from Europe, of course. I think it will be a big success.”

Gregorio Lavilla, WorldSBK Executive Director, added: “When we started with this project, we thought about many types of formats, many conditions, and we ended up with a solution that we think is feasible.

“This is a growing project that will develop depending on the feedback from the spectators, from the riders, from manufacturers. Since 2020, we started doing two races in all our categories, and this Championship will have the same format, qualifying, and two races.

“The schedule of next year’s weekends is going to be tight because we will have a lot of races. But I think that’s good for the motorcycling fans. I would also like to mention all the partners, like Yamaha, who had a positive response when we knocked on their doors. Today is a great day to start a new project.”

Image credit: worldsbk.com