Beatriz Neila celebrated her second podium of the inaugural FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship at Round 5 held at Circuito Estoril in Portugal last weekend, riding the Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha R7.
In her most competitive weekend to date, 22-year-old Spanish rider Neila qualified on the front row of the grid for Race 1, and despite tricky drying track conditions on full slick tyres she was able to successfully convert her qualifying pace to a popular third-place podium on Saturday afternoon.
Race 2 on Sunday was an epic battle for the history books as Neila, Ana Carrasco, Maria Herrera and Sara Sanchez went toe-to-toe, swapped positions and matched their race pace equally for the entire 12-lap feature. The end result came down to the very last moment, with Carrasco leading the quartet with the other three riders looking to take advantage of the slipstream in the drag down to the finish line – but Neila wasn’t quite able to make the same drive off the exit of the last corner to stay in contention in the final moments. Despite another somewhat frustrating fourth place finish, the result rounded out her best scorecard to date in 2024.
The final WorldWCR event lies just around the corner this weekend in Jerez, with two races left to push for podium – and possible race win – honours in the first motorcycling World Championship exclusively for women.
Beatriz Neila – SP: P3 / Race 1: P3 / Race 2: P4
“I’m super happy with the podium in Race 1, it was an amazing race for me. I was a little confused by the track conditions at first but in the end, I was able to stick with Ana and Maria and reach the podium. It’s important for me to have been able to keep pace with both of them, as they have so much experience and I know I can learn from them. I started Race 2 from second on the grid and fought so, so hard to try to win. It was honestly really disappointing to end P4 after such an amazing and close race. This was my best weekend of the season and to finish with another podium on Sunday would have been perfect, but we have one more round in Jerez to try again.”
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