On September 30, 2018, Ana Carrasco made history by winning the WorldSSP300 Championship, becoming the first-ever female world champion solo road racer. Six years later, she secured a second World Championship title by claiming the inaugural WorldWCR crown. This season, Ana is competing in the WorldSSP Championship with the Honda Racing World Supersport Team. Before the Aragon Round, we had the opportunity to interview Ana. Here is her reflection on a career marked by twice making history and much more.
All photos © Honda Racing World Supersport Team unless otherwise noted
Ana Carrasco’s history-making season of the 2018 WorldSSP300 Championship began with crowdfunding, an awkward situation due to budget shortfalls before the season kicked off. Winning the title opened more doors for her, though she still vividly recalls the universal challenges riders face in starting and sustaining a career. “It’s never easy. This is always difficult for everyone, even if you win or you are one of the top riders. It’s especially difficult when you are starting out. It’s difficult to find enough budget to have a good team and a good bike to fight for the championship. After winning the first world title, I had more opportunities with teams, and I had new sponsors on board, some of whom are still with me now.”
One of the doors that opened for Ana after her title win was with Provec Racing, which has strong ties to Kawasaki. This relationship led Ana to remain in the WorldSSP300 class for three more seasons. “When I won the title in WorldSSP300, it was difficult to make the move to WorldSSP. I was really involved in Kawasaki, but they didn’t have a good bike in SuperSport. Kawasaki has helped me a lot – they gave me the opportunity to win the world championship, and I didn’t want to leave them. So I decided to wait till a good opportunity came. What came was the opportunity to go back to Moto3 though.”
In 2022, Ana returned to Moto3. After being away from Grand Prix racing for seven years and after becoming a world champion herself, she came back to finish what she had started in 2013. “It was great for me to get back to Moto3. When I left in 2015, I had something inside that made me want to come back. The Moto3 bike I was riding before 2015 was completely different from the one that I found in 2022. When I came back, it was difficult to get used to the bike, especially because I was coming from SSP300; there were a lot of things that had changed during this period of time. In my opinion, I was faster, but there were a lot of small things that were difficult to get used to if you only use the bike during the race weekends. It was still a really good experience because I fully developed during the two seasons. It was a shame to finish my career in Moto3 prematurely due to my injury in 2023. But I’ve been happy to gain a lot of experience and grow as a rider.”
As a rider, I was much better this time than I was in Moto3 for the first time. I had more experience, and my way of working was much better. I would of course prefer to finish the season on the bike, but that’s racing.
When the inaugural season of WorldWCR announced its line-up, Ana was the most high-profile rider on the grid. Throughout the season, together with riders such as Maria Herrera, Beatriz Neila, and Sara Sanchez, Ana delivered some of the most exciting racing and ultimately secured her second World Championship, again making history. “Because my injury in 2023 took longer to recover, I had to start the 2024 season later, and the WorldWCR was one of the championships that started later in the year. Then I started to know more about the championship, the way that Dorna and the FIM were working to make it happen. In the end, I wanted to get involved because it was the first time that we all joined hands to do something to help women have more opportunities in the world championship. I decided to be there because it was important to make the first season as successful as possible. The championship is really important for our sport and for the women.”
Becoming a world champion for the first time was a dream come true. becoming a world champion for the second time was Ana’s powerful announcement of her comeback to the top of the world. “The WorldSSP300 title was really special because it was the dream of my life to become a world champion. My career had not been easy till that moment. I left Moto3, and I was trying to find another way to show people that I was competitive. For myself, for my family, and for people who believed in me, it was an important moment. The WorldWCR title was also important because, for the previous three to four seasons, things had been difficult, with my back injury, my new Moto3 campaign, and my leg injury. I was suffering a lot, and it was not easy to keep working and believing in myself. Having this season of winning races and standing on the podium made me feel competitive again.”
Having given the WorldWCR a successful launch and having given herself the confidence boost by winning the title, it was time for Ana to pursue a goal she had held since claiming her WorldSSP300 title: competing in the WorldSSP Championship. This season, Ana joined the Honda Racing World Supersport Team. Despite the challenges of her petite stature and the extra weight she has to carry on the bike, Ana is steadily gaining ground in the category, aiming to eventually fight for the championship. “WorldSSP was the category I was looking forward to since I won the WorldSSP300 title. After winning the WorldWCR title last year, I wanted to move to a different category. Being part of Honda is an opportunity every rider would want to take. So far, I’m still learning a lot. It’s a completely different class to what I was used to – it’s a much bigger bike. As I’m learning as a rider, we also need to develop the bike. We knew at the beginning that this was a project that would take a few years. Honda knows the bike is not ready to win now. Even though we don’t have the results yet, we are working to have a better bike for next season and for the future. I’m getting better every day, which is the most important thing.”
To make the move in this condition is not easy. I don’t have enough experience and I have to learn. At the same time, we don’t have a really good bike yet. But I’m happy because I feel like I’m really part of the project. We are all working together with the engineers in Japan.
Since her debut in the Moto3 Championship in 2013, Ana has endured many difficult times. For example, her injury in 2020 could’ve been life-threatening or career-ending. But when asked about her most difficult time, Ana would circle back to when she first got in the Grand Prix paddock, a time when few believed she belonged. “The most difficult period for me was at the beginning of my professional career in the world championship. I was fighting to show the people that I was capable of being part of the world championship. Back then, I didn’t have enough support to be on a good team. I was changing teams every year, trying to find a way to stay in the world championship. In the end, it was like I was fighting against the world. It was difficult to find people who believed that I could be competitive if they gave me the opportunity. In that difficult moment, the best thing that happened in my life was moving to the WSBK paddock. I felt like everyone was respecting me a lot. I finally found a good team, a good bike, and all the people around me to win our title together.”
As the most successful female rider in history, having overcome numerous obstacles, we asked Ana how female riders can be better supported and promoted. Here’s her take: “The WorldWCR is a good starting point. There are 20+ riders on the grid every year, and they are all here in the WSBK paddock. This is really good. What I have in mind is to help them move to other classes if they are at the right level. It would also be good to start helping the young riders to get into the world championship and then move to other classes.”
With two more rounds to go in this year’s WorldSSP, we wish Ana and the team all the best of luck in the races and beyond!
Paddock Sorority 
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