Race Week Women in Motorsport – WMX Round 4 in France, F1 Academy Round 3 in Barcelona, GNCC Round 7 John Penton, and XCross Hard Enduro in Serbia. All women hold high expectations on achieving best possible results with valuable points up for grabs on varied tracks from Europe to America.
Current 2023 WMX leader Courtney Duncan will have one goal in sight, to cement her Red Plate standings of 135 points having taken double moto wins in Round 3, in Spain 2 weeks prior. Pushed to her full potential by full-gate of WMX rider’s, Spanish rider Daniela Guillen and Dutch rider Lotte van Drunen, add fire to the mix standing P2 and P3 overall on points table.
Taking a peak at what the track will hold for WMX Practice, Qualifying and Races 1 – 2, let’s hope the weather stays fine. WMX has not raced at Villars sous Ecot since 2017, and what a race weekend that was!
Not only was the Final Round tight in points, but the rain turned the track into real mud quagmire, with racing reduced to survival mode. Italian WMX Champion 6x Kiara Fontanesi somehow managed to pull off Round win, and overall 2017 WMX Championship, with only one point separating each in top 3.
F1 Academy enters Round 3 in Barcelona with current leader Marta Garcia (Prema Racing) poised to set another record of wins in the 7 Round Series. The Spanish driver has displayed fine performances over Rounds 1 -2, taking 3 Race wins to lead the Championship table with 97 points.
MP Motorsport driver’s and sister’s Hamda and Amna Al Qubaisi have each notched a Race win with Hamda holding P2 Overall ahead of Nerea Marti (Campos Racing). Prema Racing team-driver Bianca Bustamante took her first win in Round 2, R2 reverse grid, confirming all driver’s are ready to make most of race opportunities when they arise.
Spanish Enduro/Trials GP/Hard Enduro rider Sandra Gomez takes on enormous challenge of competing in XCross Hard Enduro Pro class against 61 world-class male rider’s. Never one to shy away from challenging her levels of endurance, physical and mental capacity, Sandra completed Prologue in P59 with time of 1.17.40 seconds.
America’s GNCC Series kicks off Round 7, John Penton with WXC women rider’s vying for #1 spot on the podium after completing 2 hours of racing amongst 700 odd rider’s. As current WXC Championship leader Rachael Archer states, getting past lappers proves to be another challenge to contend with, along with choosing lines and holding gap out front ahead of fellow competitors. Archer (AmPro Yamaha) stands top of the table with 170 points, Korie Steede (KTM) in P2 on 140 and Rachel Gutish, P3 (GAS GAS) on 135.
Header photo: Sandra Gomez competing in 2023 XCross Hard Enduro Image: @andreabelluschi
Words: Sharon Cox
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