FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship kicked off its fourth round with race action in Hungary. Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Racing Team) found her way around the brand-new Balaton Park Circuit the fastest for her fourth win of the season. Chloe Jones (GR Motorsport) landed her second podium in a row after her maiden rostrum finish at her home round last time out at Donington. Beatriz Nelia (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) finished in third place for her seventh podium of the season after starting the contest from pole position.

LATE BURST OF SPEED: Herrera finished the race with the largest margin yet seen in a WorldWCR race, just +1.395s

Maria Herrera jumped ahead with the holeshot, leading Neila and Jones, who had a similarly rapid leap off the line from P6. That trio threw caution to the wind and traded overtakes to lead the race for stretches. Sarah Sanchez had caught up to the lead group by Lap 5, throwing her hat in the ring to make it a four-rider battle. Sanchez made an incisive move through the pack to P1, leading the group until the #6 reasserted herself at the front. Herrera would go on to run away from the pack, winning her 10^th race in the category. Chloe Jones benefitted from a final-lap error from Neila, cutting past her in the final chicane for her first-ever WorldWCR P2. Neila shuffled down to the last spot on the podium, dropping a total of nine points to Herrera to increase the deficit to 18 points.

BAD LUCK FOR SANCHEZ: Despite riding in the thick of the fight for the race win, she falls to P5

 Roberta Ponziani (Klint Forward Racing Team)  showed determination in closing the distance to the lead group, and while she wasn’t able to fight through to battle for the race win, she finished in P4 for a solid 13 points it was a tough break for Sara Sanchez (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team) who despite riding well and even leading the race after fighting through the pack at the front, she was overtaken by the lead posse to finish in P5. Pakita Ruiz (PR46+1 Racing Team) finished the race in P6, leading the second group after overtaking Jessica Howden (Team Trasimeno), who was shuffled to P7.

METRONOMIC CONSISTENCY FROM LEWIS: The Kiwi rider has never missed the top 10 in races that she has finished

Avalon Lewis (Carl Cox Motorsports) finished P8 in Race 1, just under two seconds behind Howden. In P9, French rookie Lucie Boudesseul (GMT94-YAMAHA) led Astrid Madrigal (Pons Italika Racing FIMLA) across the finish line after the Mexican rider charged up the grid from a P15 start to round out the top 10 positions.

ONGARO UNFIT: Lap 1 crash sees her Hungarian Round end early.

Ornella Ongaro was the first to crash out on Turn 11 of the Race’s first lap, being escorted on a stretcher to be reviewed in the medical centre. She was later diagnosed with a broken right humerus; she will be transported to Vezprem Hospital for further assessment. Tayla Relph (Full Throttle Racing) went down in Turn 5 with just three laps to go.

The top six from the WorldWCR Race 1: Full results here!

1 Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Racing Team)
  2. Chloe Jones (GR Motosport) +1.395s
  3. Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) +1.536s
  4. Roberta Ponziani (Klint Forward Racing Team) +3.575s
  5. Sara Sanchez (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team) +4.275s
  6. Pakita Ruiz (PR46+1 Racing Team) +6.820s

Fastest lap: Roberta Ponziani – 1’53.338s

Tune in tomorrow for WorldWCR’s Race 1 on Saturday at 12:20 local time (UTC +2). Keep up with Lewis and the other riders in the WorldWCR Championship battle by following WorldWCR on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook, and watch every race FREE on YouTube!