With the chance for Maria Herrera (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR) to clinch the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship Riders’ title in the cards at Donington Park, the tensions were high at the Prosecco DOC UK Round even before the start of the action on track. What would go on to unfold on the tarmac, and the comments exchanged after the race brought the drama to up to another octave as title competitors Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) and Paola Ramos (Klint Racing Team) were each on the receiving end of moves which the #6 was penalised for, Neila in Race 1, and Ramos in Race 2.

“IT’S NOT FAIR TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP LIKE THIS WITH THE ATTITUDE OF MARIA, IT WAS A DANGEROUS ACTION”

Championship leader Herrera needed to outscore Neila by 26 points over the weekend’s pair of races, and onlookers didn’t have to wait long for the weekend's first bombshell to drop. On the opening lap of WorldWCR’s Race 1, Herrera and Neila charged side by side into the iconic Craner Curves when the #36 tried to pull off a sweeping move around the outside. Both riders went bar-to-bar as they put a knee down into the left-handed corner, and the two riders came together, sending the #36 sprawling off track onto the Donington Park grass. FIM Stewards deemed the #6 as responsible for the crash, earning her a double Long Lap Penalty for Irresponsible Riding. Herrera’s blazing pace, however, meant that even after serving the penalties, she still took the victory, setting up a Race 2 where Herrera would simply need to outscore Neila by a single point to be crowned the 2026 WorldWCR Riders’ Champion.

Herrera argued that the Race 1 contact was nothing more than a racing incident, she said: “The incident was part of the race; she wanted to push outside, and she could see me on the inside. Sometimes when you push, it’s difficult to pull off the move because we both wanted the same line. I’m happy to have won with the two LLPs. It’s a shame to see some people saying that I pushed Bea on purpose.”

Neila was livid after the crash, not mincing words in the least; she said: “For me, it’s not fair to win a Championship like this with the attitude of Maria, because it was a dangerous action. Congrats to Maria for this victory, but your attitude on track is horrible, and everyone saw your aggressive moment. Enjoy your victory. She hasn’t come to speak to me or anything; for her, this is a normal attitude, so the only thing I can say to Maria is congrats.”

Ramos inherited P2 after the action, but the #58 was too focused on her own race to have anything to report despite her front-row seat of the crash. On the Race 1 crash, Ramos said: “All I saw was that Bea was on the outside and Maria on the inside, and that Bea was off the line. I couldn’t really tell if Bea had crashed or not. After I did the second LLP, I saw that Bea wasn’t there and I just focused on pushing to take P2.”

“SHE WAS BEHIND ME, I COULDN’T SEE HER, AND IT SHOULD HAVE JUST BEEN A RACING INCIDENT”

With tensions in the paddock already at a fever pitch, all eyes turned to Sunday’s Race 2, where Herrera would just need to beat Neila head-to-head in order to be named the first ever double WorldWCR Champion. Further sweetening the deal for Herrera, as Neila didn’t record a lap in Race 1, she would start from P10. Determined to push the title decider to Jerez, Neila was off like a shot at lights out, setting the fastest laps of anyone on track across the first four laps, sending herself soaring up the grid. Most notably, she pulled off a sensational double overtake at the Foggy Esses past Chloe Jones (Monster Energy Crescent Yamaha)  and Muklada Sarapuech (Yamaha AD78 FIMLA by EEST NJT Racing) for P4 on Lap 3. By Lap 6, she was past Roberta Ponziani (Klint Racing Team) for P3, but with six laps to go, she was more than a second and a half from Herrera in P1.

Gritting her teeth, Neila chipped away at the margin; meanwhile, Herrera had stuck to her plan to build a margin in the early laps and manage her race from there as she had led the entire race up to that point. While she was more than eight seconds ahead of Ramos in P2 since Lap 4, Neila and Ramos pushed hard together and caught Herrera by the penultimate Lap 11. The final lap brought the real fireworks, however, as Ramos pulled alongside Herrera, hoping to outbrake Herrera into the change of direction when, again, Herrera on the inside line made contact with another rider as they both put their left knee down, this time into Turn 6. The #6 went on to win the race, and while she was under the impression that she had just clinched the title, Herrera had been penalised by FIM Stewards for the action, applying a six-second penalty to her, which saw her demoted to P2 and Neila up to P1, meaning that the title battle continues on to Jerez.

On her clutch Race 2 win, Neila said: “Today the race was a bit difficult because I was in a lot of pain in my leg and in my neck after the Race 1 crash, but I went step by step, and I arrived to Maria after seeing that my times were better than hers. This victory means everything for me; I’m super super happy. After Race 1, there were lots of comments directed at me on social media about everything that happened, which made me feel super bad. This victory gives me a lot of adrenaline and confidence heading into Jerez. The rivalry with Maria motivates me. In this race I felt really motivated as well, starting from P10, it was a new situation for me to start from there, and I didn’t feel any pressure or any stress.”

On the incident, Herrera emphasised the blustery conditions and unique track layout which makes it difficult to overtake outside of several specific places, she said: “I was focused on making a gap ahead of Paola and Bea. The windy weather made it hard to build up a gap and, in the end, Paola arrived. She overtook me in some places and in the end she crashed. I followed her in some places and had to cut the gas many times because it’s very difficult to overtake in some places. I saw the video later and it’s very difficult to enter that corner. For me, she was behind me; I couldn’t see her, and it should have been a racing incident. I could have crashed several times because the wind was very strong. I managed it well; I’m focused on the races to come in Jerez.”

Despite a tense moment at Parc Ferme, Ramos didn’t involve herself much in the off-track drama after the Race 2 crash, she said: “Today’s race didn’t end how I thought it would, but these things happen in races. It’s a racing incident. No one wants to knock anyone off track, so other than the crash, I was happy with my race and with my weekend, especially having set a new track record in Race 2.”

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