Female riders who left a mark

Throughout the years, several female riders left a mark in the motorcycle history books.

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Beryl Swain

The Brit caused a sensation in 1962 when she appeared in the 50 cc category of a famous race called Tourist Trophy, becoming the first woman to compete in a solo race. Unsurprisingly, she was found to be below the minimum weight and had to wear a belt with sufficient lead ballast. Beryl finished the race in 22nd place out of 25. This brought her a lot of attention not only from the media but also major manufacturers, such as Honda. Swain's huge plans - she intended to participate in the 500 cc category - unfortunately got put on a halt. Raising concerns over the safety of female racers resulted in FIM revoking Swain's license. The talented Brit refused to give up and wrote a long letter to all the important people - including the Queen or the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man - hoping for a turnaround of events. To her dismay, none of these efforts revoked FIM's decision. Despite that, Swain applied to race in the Tourist Trophy the following year, but got rejected. This and divorce to her husband were the main reason that led to her retirement from the sport. Nevertheless, she was and still is a role model to many.

"I am always placed on the last row at Brands Hatch and as I usually come in with the first ten riders. I should be placed on the second row, but I presume that because I am a woman I must be lucky that I am allowed to ride at all." - Beryl Swain on how she was treated differently from her male competitors

Gina Bovaird

The American rider is a woman of many "firsts". In 1980, she was the first woman to qualify for the Daytona200 and, a year later, the first woman to finish this race. She made history again when she became the first and only woman to compete in a 500 cc category - today's MotoGP. Bovaird took advantage of the largely boycotted 1982 French Grand Prix - round three of the season. Due to dangerous conditions at the Circuit de Nogaro, major factories and top riders decided not to participate. This may be one of the reasons why this venue never reappeared on the calendar. Despite not finishing the race, Gina Bovaird made an indelible mark in the history books.

Daniela Tognoli

The Italian rider won in Misano during the 1992 Trofeo Italia (125 cc class), becoming the first woman to win an international race. This opened the door to the World Championship as she spent two season in the 125 cc category - today's Moto3. However, she didn't manage to score points in the nine races she appeared in - her best result was 24th at Laguna Seca.

Taru Rinne

The speedy Finn initially started with four wheels, competing against Mika Häkkinen and Mika Salo in karting. Especially her on-track rivalry must have been excited to watch as these two talents went back and forth. Rinne won the Finnish Karting Championship in 1982 and 1983 - however, she got disqualified from the last race due to illegal fuel and eventually lost the title to Häkkinen. She also received a personal one-year ban, which ended her promising career and led to her switch to motorcycles. In 1998, she finished 14th in the French Grand Prix in the 125 cc catgeory, becoming the first woman to score points. She even has two top 10 results. From 1987 to 1991, she was a part of the 125 cc grid. Rinne qualified second at Hockenheim in 1989 with Honda - for a while, she even led a race, eventually finishing seventh. She later achieved another top10 result - eight in Assen. 1989 was overall a successful year for Rinne as she finished 17th out of 44 points-scoring competitors. After recovering from a terrible accident at Paul Ricard in 1991, where she broke both ankles, Rinne received a letter from Bernie Ecclestone which put an end to her chances at the top level competing - she didn't qualify for the next season. Rinner later called this decision "the biggest disappointment of her life." After this, she found herself racing in the German Championship.

Tomoko Igata

The Japanese rider made her 125 cc debut during the Japanese Grand Prix as a wild card. She finished the race despite the challenging conditions, and that was just the beginning. After Taru Rinne, Igata is the second woman to compete in the World Championship and what's more, she found herself in the top10 two times - her best result was 7th at the 1995 Czech Grand Prix. Over the course of two seasons, Igata gathered a total of 30 points. In 2016, she was named the FIM Legend.

Katja Poengsen

The German sensation is known to the motorcycling world as the first female competitor to appear in the 250 cc category - today's Moto2. More specifically it was the 2001 Japanese GP. She joined Taru Rinne and Tomoko Igata as the third woman to race in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Furthermore, she even scored points in the series when she finished the 2001 Italian Grand Prix in 14th place, earning two Championship points. To this day, she is the only woman with such achievement. In 2011, Poengsen was inducted into the FIM Hall of Fame.

Ana Carrasco

One of today's stars, without a doubt, is Ana Carrasco, known by the nickname "The Pink Warrior". She first appeared in Moto3 in 2013, competing against the names such as Maverick Vinales, Alex Marquez, Alex Rins, Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller, and Brad Binder. She scored nine points in total with the best result being 8th in Valencia. The following seasons were less successful due to financial problems and injuries. The biggest achievement of her career is, without a doubt, winning the 2018 Supersport 300 World Championship, which is part of the Superbike World Championship. Thanks to this, you can find her in the history books as the first woman to win a World Championship in solo motorcycle road racing. Carrasco returned to Moto 3 for 2022 and 2023, however without scoring points. This year, she competes in a brand new women-only motorcycle series - FIM Women's Motorcycling World Championship. Alongside fellow Spaniard and former Moto3 rider María Herrera, she is a title contender.

María Herrera

In 2013, the Spanish rider became the first woman to win a race in the FIM CEV Repsol series, winning the Moto3 race in Aragon. Thanks to the second victory later in the season, she even led the championship. Herrera ultimately placed fourth after she was forced to retire from the final race. She continued in the series the following year. While competing, she also made four guest appearances in the Moto3 Championship as a wildcard entry. In 2015, she was a full-time Moto3 rider alongside Isaac Vinales. Her best result was 11th at Phillip Island. The following year wasn't a walk through the garden for Herrera as her team withdrew from the championship due to financial issues. However, that didn't stop her as she took over Team Laglisse and became an owner-rider. In 2019, she switched to Moto E. The same as Carrasco, also Herrera competes in the FIM Women's Motorcycling World Championship this year.

During the 2022 Aragon Grand Prix, an all-women squad was introduced, thanks to a collaboration between Angeluss MTA Chief Alessandro Tonucci and CEO of the title sponsor, Aurora Angelucci

Apart from María Herrera as a rider - who was given the wild card, the team consisted of Lidia Cerezuela (technical and race engineer), Adriana Gallardo Montes (first mechanic), Nekane Muros Salom (second mechanic), Lara Hortences (tyres), and Aurora Angelucci (team manager).

"We decided to create an all-female team because our desire is to increase the number of women working in the paddock, from riders to mechanics," - Aurora Angelucci, team manager of the Angeluss MTA Racing

Honourable mention

Quick women also come from the Czech Republic and I have two examples to show. The first is Markéta Janáková, who competed in the 125 cc category with Angaia Racing in 2004. The season was full of crashes and eventually, Janáková failed to qualify for the next season. She later moved to superbikes in the Supersport category.

The other talented racer who appeared in the 125 cc category was Andrea Toušková. 15 years old at the time, Toušková received a wild card for the Czech Grand Prix as Eurowag Junior Racing rider. She managed to finish the race in 31st place.