Relph: "If I can convince one more woman to get involved in this sport, that’s a World Championship to me"
Tayla Relph made history by topping the first WorldWCR session at Cremona, and the Australian reacted to that plus explained why she decided to enter the Championship
Tayla Relph (TAYCO Motorsport) made a small bit of FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship history on Thursday at Cremona as the Australian topped the first-ever session in the new Championship. She was quickest in Warm Up which started the two-day test in Italy and finished the day inside the top six at a track she hadn’t competed at before. After the action concluded, she spoke about her first day on track and explained why she’s competing in WorldWCR this season.
The first action started with a 10-minute Warm Up session which Relph topped, setting a 1’50.113s to write her name in the history books as the first rider to top a WorldWCR session. Although unable to keep her place at the top during the next session – a 20-minute Free Practice 2 outing – the Australian was able to secure sixth place with a 1’47.631s, lapping 1.6 seconds slower than pacesetter Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team).
Reflecting on her strong day and small bit of history, Relph said: “In my first session here, I definitely didn’t expect to be topping the timesheets. I’ve never ridden here before, never ridden the bike in Europe before and we only came here last week. To top the very first session for the history-making WorldWCR is a little bit of a dream come true. I didn’t even think about that! I’m loving this bike, feeling right at home in this paddock and you can tell it’s such a family environment.”
Relph, who has also competed in her native Australia in the Supersport 300 Championship, also went on to explain what her plan was for the second and final day of action on Friday. The 27-year-old also expressed how she hopes her participation in the Championship will help grow the sport for women, explaining that she didn’t have many role models growing up and how she would feel if just one more woman got involved in motorsport thanks to her competing on the world stage.
The rider from Warrnambool said: “The plan for tomorrow is to learn a bit more. I wish we had one more session in the dry. But when it rains it means you can work on the technical parts of the circuit. We’ve shown the pace in the dry and in the wet so now it’s time to put it all together for tomorrow. There’s not enough representation in Australia, we race against the men. I didn’t have a lot of role models in racing growing up, so if I can just convince one more woman to get involved in this sport in Australia, that’s a World Championship to me.”
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