Double Podium Delight and Fastest Lap at Portimão for Beatriz Neila and Ampito Crescent Yamaha

Beatriz Neila started her 2026 FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship title campaign off with two strong third-place podiums from Race 1 and Race 2 at Portimão, Portugal, last weekend.

The Ampito Crescent Yamaha rider qualified P4 on Friday for Race 1, and went one better with a second-fastest lap time from the opening race of the season, to start from P2 on the grid on Sunday. After finishing a few seconds off the winning pace in Race 1, Neila dug deep to close the gap in Race 2 and held on to cross the line just 0.2s from the win at the chequered flag – almost within striking distance of her two closest competitors, Paola Ramos and Maria Herrera. Neila was also given a further boost by walking away with a new race lap record of 1’52.637s. Round 2 of the WorldWCR series will take place at TT Circuit Assen in two weeks, from 17-19 April.

Beatriz Neila, Ampito Crescent Yamaha – Superpole: P4 / Race 1: P3 / Race 2: P3

“The podium in Race 1 felt like P1 for me, as we had a few issues in the recent test and again on Friday and had to make a lot of changes to the bike. In the first part of the race, I was super close but then the gap opened up. Then Race 2 was a bit more difficult because we were all lapping with super-fast times! But I’m very happy because we again reached the podium and I’m very proud because the gap was close. I had more fun in Sunday’s race honestly; it was incredible to be putting in ‘52 lap times around this track and I really enjoyed myself. Now we need to keep working in this direction in preparation for Assen, where I’ll do my best once more. Thank you to my team, to Ampito, to Alan and Stuie and my family for all of their support.”