FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship (WorldWCR) kicks off this weekend. The inaugural season of the championship will see 25 riders compete in six rounds (two races at each round) starting from Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. We caught up with some of the riders on the entry list this season, today we give you the nineth installment in this series, the story of Spanish rider Andrea Sibaja Moreno.
Photos © Andrea Sibaja Moreno
Andrea’s journey on a bike started rather late in her life. She rode on a 160cc pitbike at the Campillos circuit when she was 18 years old. “I was always following races on TV, and I always loved the idea of racing a motorbike. But I didn’t have the opportunity. In Spain, like 10 years ago, it wasn’t normal to give a motorbike as a present to little girls. The girls who start earlier usually have a brother or someone in the family who rides bikes. In my case, nobody in my family is related to motorcycles or racing. Until I was already working and earning money, I couldn’t try it. Finally, I did a test, and I knew I needed to be a rider. It was impossible to do anything else, but trying to do my best to get involved in all this.”
Because Andrea started rather late, with already an adult body, she needed to move quickly onto bigger bikes. “I arrived in the world when they were shifting from two-stroke bikes to four-stroke bikes, and I was too big to be riding the small bikes, so I had to go to the 600cc bikes directly without much experience. It was difficult in terms of the physical demand, the mental demand, and the financial demand especially. It was a lot of money which I didn’t have. My team helped me a lot. I wouldn’t be here today without my team’s help.”
I went to a lot of businesses in Córdoba, until I reached Deza, my sponsor till this day. They supported me from the very beginning. They love the idea of having a woman in this world.
Besides her early sponsor Deza which supports her till this day, Andrea’s career has also been guided by her team director Luis Castro who is also a racing idol for her. “Luis has a similar story to mine. He also came from a family without relations to motorsport. He just felt this fire inside him. He built a team from scratch, following his dreams. He’s made 250cc wild card entrances in the world championship. He achieved his goals through hard work. I got my racing number from the team’s name, which is the year he was born.”
This world has more bad moments than good moments. But the small good moments contain something that makes you forget about the bad moments. It gives you the strengths to pull through 20 bad moments. When you’ve been through a lot of injuries and surgeries and pain, then you have a good race, it just tastes so much sweeter than a normal win.
Andrea has been the Andalusian Champion and has achieved great national results, but her career in the past few years has not been easy. She went through several serious injuries and complicated surgeries. But she never gave up racing. “When I started to understand everything in this motorcycling world, I suffered a really big fall. I broke my foot and my back. Because my first surgery was badly done, I had to have further surgeries to correct it. Through all these years when I was fighting for the Spanish Championship, I was also fighting against my injuries which were not getting better. I would miss races when I was recovering which affected my level of competition, then when I was racing I also couldn’t give my all. On top of all these, I had another big crash in Jerez which injured my hip and my bad foot again. Last summer, I had surgery on my hip and I started recovery again. This is also why I look up to Marc Marquez. It wasn’t just about his talent and the championships he won. It was also about how he managed through his injuries in the past few years. I know very well about the bad moments you have when you are going through a serious injury.”
Even though she is still recovering from her latest hip injury, when WorldWCR came around, there was no chance Andrea would miss it. “I’ve been the only woman on the grid a lot of times. I’ve also raced in the first female championship in Spain and in Mexico. I was always pushing for the FIM and federations for a women’s championship. I’ve raced in the bigger categories and I see the difference between a man’s body and a woman’s body. So when it happens, I need to be here. I felt for the last five years, I was always prevented from giving my all by the injuries. Even though I’m still suffering from my injuries and the other girls are very strong, I need to be here.”
Fighting through the past few years, Andrea has built up a strong mind. But of course the world championship is still a big challenge for her. “My mentality is my strength. What I went through would stop a lot of riders, but I continued working to get back. The other riders have more resources and training time than me. They have seasons after seasons of racing experience. You just need to take everything in a good way. Take it as a lesson or a motivation. When the red lights go off, I will give my best.”
And we are sure, this weekend and the five weekends onwards in this inaugural WorldWCR, Andrea will give her best.
The 2024 WorldWCR Calendar
1. Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round, MWC “Marco Simoncelli” – 14-16 June
2. Prosecco DOC UK Round, Donington Park – 12-14 July
3. Pirelli Portuguese Round, Autódromo Internacional do Algarve – 9-11 August
4. Acerbis Italian Round, Cremona Circuit – 20-22 September
5. Estoril Round, Circuito Estoril – 11-13 October
6. Prometeon Spanish Round, Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto – 18-20 October
Paddock Sorority 
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