The second season of the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship (WorldWCR) kicked off on April 11. With three different riders winning the first four races, Maria Herrera is leading but not yet dominating the championship. We continue with our WorldWCR Special Series of riders’ interviews. Today, we give you the the story of Italian rider Danise Dal Zotto.
All photos © Denise Dal Zotto
Despite not hailing from a motorsport family, Denise’s first encounter with motorcycling came remarkably early, at just two years old. “Some one gave my dad a minimoto before I was born. When I was two years old, I saw this toy, and I started playing with it. I liked the sound and everything. After a while, I started riding in the garden of our house.”
Like many Italian riders, Valentino Rossi is Denise’s racing idol as well. Her entire career was even inspired by seeing Rossi riding on TV. “When I was seven or eight, I was watching Valentino racing on TV. I turned around and told my dad and my mom, ‘I want to do this in my life’. They didn’t know anything about motorsport before that. But after I asked them, they started searching if there was a small track for minimoto. They took me to the track to try it. I’m very lucky that they helped me to realize this dream.”
I am very lucky to have a nice family and to have the people around me. When you are going through difficulties, it’s important who you have around yourself. The people around me have helped me a lot through different situations.
The first part of Denise’s career was along the more common path of a rider from Italy or Spain – competing in the minimoto national championship before progressing to MiniGP at national and European levels. But then in 2022, Denise took a different turn when moving up to bigger bikes – she went to the UK to race in BSB Junior Supersport for two years. “When I needed to move from MiniGP to bigger bikes, I could race in the Women’s European Cup, or do the CIV, or other championships. Leon Haslam called me then and asked me to test in Spain with him. He really liked me in the testing, and asked him to go race in the BSB. It would be more expensive for me to do the European championships. It was a very difficult choice because it was my first year with the big bikes, I didn’t know the tracks in the UK, and I didn’t speak English. But it was a big opportunity.”
I was only seventeen years old, living alone in another country where people speak a different language. I needed to manage school, training, and racing.
It was indeed a big opportunity despite all the difficulties along the way. Over her two years in the UK, initially under Leon Haslam’s coaching and later with Faye Ho’s support, Denise matured rapidly both as a rider and as a person. “It was a very big improvement for me. Overall, I learned English, and I learned to live alone. Specifically in motorcycling, I learned a lot about riding ‘not the perfect bike’. At Leon’s academy, he was always asking us to train on a bike with a problem, so we can improve our riding with the problem and adapt to the problem. Leon and Ron have massive experience about how to work on a bike, how to train, how to focus, and how to perform in different situations and conditions.”
While in the UK, Denise was offered a wildcard entry in the Women’s European Championship in 2023. But she had to sit it out due to a broken collarbone. Last year, she finally made her appearance in the championship, this time as a full-time rider. “Sandro (Carusi) called me in 2023 and offered me a wildcard for Mugello, but because I had broken my collarbone, I had to wait till Imola. However I was still declared unfit at the Imola round. Sandro liked me, and said if I wanted to race with him next season, I could still join the team. So in 2024, I raced with MotoXRacing in the Women’s European Championship, the CIV female championship, and the CIV R3 Cup.”
Winning the race at Magione in the CIV female championship, starting second in Brno in the Women’s European Championship, and being on the podium in the CIV R3 Cup were some great memories from last year.
This season, Denise initially applied for the full season of WorldWCR but wasn’t selected. She managed to secure a wildcard entrance at the Cremona round and finished both races in the points. Now, she is preparing to challenge the world championship again with another wildcard at Donington Park in July. “I didn’t have any expectations, because I didn’t want to put pressure on myself. It was a good weekend in Cremona, especially if you consider that all the other riders either had a full season last year with the championship, or had 3 days testing the bike at the circuit. I saw the WorldWCR spec R7 bike for the first time in the first practice that weekend. We are happy with the lap time, and I improved over the weekend, but I still want to do better. So I asked to do another wildcard, and we are having another shot at Donington Park.”
I’m very happy with the championship. It was great idea by Dorna to make the best girls more visible to the world. The leading group are very fast. If I want to do the championship full time in the future, I’ll need to improve.
To gain more experience on the Yamaha R7, Denise is also racing this year in the CIV R7 Cup, even though it comes in a different racing spec. “The CIV R7 Cup’s bike is very different from the WorldWCR’s. There is more flexibility in the parts you can choose from in the CIV R7 Cup. But I still chose to do a season in the R7 Cup to get familiar with the R7 to prepare for a future season in the WorldWCR.”
We look forward to seeing Denise build on her progress at the Donington Park wildcard event in July. We wish her the very best for this challenge, the remainder of the season, and her continued journey in the world of motorcycle racing.
The 2025 WorldWCR Calendar
1. Dutch Round, TT Circuit Assen – 11-13 April
2. Acerbis Italian Round, Cremona Circuit – 2-4 May
3. Prosecco DOC UK Round, Donington Park – 11-13 July
4. Hungarian Round, Balaton Park Circuit* – 25-27 July
5. French Round, Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours – 5-7 September
6. Spanish Round, Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto – 17-19 October
* Subject to homologation
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