OXLEY INTERVIEW: ANA CARRASCO
The World Championship winning woman on racing with boys.
No matter what happens in the future there will be a few brave racers who will forever have their names carved in the annals of motorsport history: most famously John Surtees, the first to win world championships on two and four wheels, Valentino Rossi, the first to win back-to-back premier-class races on different makes of motorcycle, and Ana Carrasco, the first woman to win a motorcycle roadracing world championship.
Carrasco’s achievement is particularly significant because little more than half a century before she won the 2018 Supersport 300 world title she wouldn’t have been allowed to enter the championship.
In 1962 bike racing’s governing body (the FIM, Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) banned women from world-class racing. Why? Because Londoner Beryl Swain was planning to become the first female to go grand prix racing. The FIM were stunned that any woman would want to do such a thing, so they rewrote the rules to keep women out. ‘No one should like to think about such a charming person getting hurt in a motorcycle race,’ wrote an official in turning down Swain’s entry. Sadly, Swain died a few years before Carrasco’s triumph, so she never got to see a woman climb one of the sport’s highest peaks. Carrasco started racing very young, when her parents gave her and her sister and brother minibikes. ‘My father is a mechanic and works in racing, that’s why it started,’ says the 24-year-old from Murcia in southeast Spain. ‘When I was three he bought me a bike, so it started like a game, just for fun. Then when I was four I did my first race, but only after I’d cried for three days because my parents wouldn’t let me race. My brother and sister also rode bikes but they soon stopped.’ Why did Ana continue?
‘I did a lot of sports – football, basketball, tennis, almost everything – but riding a bike was completely different. For me it was the most fun and also I had the opportunity to go racing with my family, so it was fun for the family too. Honestly I didn’t expect to become a professional rider because it was just a hobby.’
Carrasco climbed the same racing ladder most Spanish racing superstars go up: from minimoto and Metrakit 80s to 125s and Moto3. ‘When I was a kid I raced against Álex Rins, Marc Márquez and Maverick Viñales. All these guys were in my generation, so I raced against a lot of good riders and some of them are now in Motogp. When they were young they were already very fast and I was fighting with them, which was good.’
At the same time Carrasco watched Motogp’s previous generation on television. ‘We watched all the races and my favourite rider was always
Casey Stoner, because I loved his style and how he went about his racing. Of course there was also Dani Pedrosa and
Valentino Rossi.’
It comes as no surprise that
Carrasco is a powerful woman. She
exudes strength, confidence and intelligence. She also speaks excellent English and combines her professional racing career with studying hard for a degree in law. ‘I try to be confident, because really we are all the same,’ she says. ‘When fans watch Motogp riders maybe they think these racers are from another world completely, but we are actually all the same. Some of us are racers and others are builders or doctors – I don’t see any difference.’
Carrasco is also sunny and inspirational, with one of the widest smiles you’ll ever see on a world championship grid. ‘It’s very important to enjoy this sport because we also know the bad side. During race weekends I’m serious and focused but I try to enjoy every moment because you never know when it may be finished for you.’ Carrasco made her way through a male-dominated sport by always looking ahead and always ignoring the doubters shouting from the side lines. ‘It’s not only in racing but also in normal life – when you want to do something different from other people you will always have those who say, “yeah, try it!” And then you will have others who say, you are wasting your time, “you won’t make it!” So you listen to those who want to help you and everything else means nothing at all. It’s always important to know who is trying to help you and who is trying to destroy you.’
Carrasco was beating boys from her earliest days in minimoto but has no idea what they thought about getting beaten by a girl. ‘This is a really difficult question because I never knew what they thought. At first it was quite strange for people to see me winning races, but soon it became normal, so I think this is the biggest step we have made in motorcycle racing.’
Carrasco won her first regional 125cc titles back in 2009, then she moved into the Spanish-based FIM (yes, them!) CEV 125cc series, the gateway to grands prix. In 2011 she became the first woman to score points in the CEV.
‘I was 14 at that time and from that moment I started thinking more like a professional rider and I started thinking that maybe one day I can ride in the world championship.’
Just two years later she made her world championship debut at Losail, Qatar, riding a KTM Moto3 bike. Her best result in three seasons of grands prix was an eighth place at the 2013 Valencia GP, won by her team-mate Vinales. Current Motogp stars Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder finished tenth and 12th.
Only two women have bettered that: Taru Rinne, who took seventh in the 1989 West German 125cc GP and Tomoko Igata, who finished seventh in the 1995 Czech 125 GP.
Carrasco’s grand prix career was cut short by the problem that affects so many aspiring youngsters, regardless of gender: she was unable to raise the several hundred thousand Euros required to buy herself a ride. ‘I didn’t have the money to continue and anyway I wasn’t enjoying
‘We are all the same. Some of us are racers and others are builders or doctors – I don’t see any difference’