Terra&Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team completed its Saturday at the iconic TT Circuit Assen for the opening round of the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship, with Sara Sánchez clinching a strong third in Race 1.

The day began with the final Warm Up at 09:30 local time, with both Sara Sánchez and Natalia Rivera putting the session to good use ahead of the first race of the weekend. In the 10-minute session, the #64 was fifth at the chequered flag on a 1’50.855, while his teammate #20 was sitting in 13th with a time of 1’52.199.

At lights out in Race 1, Sánchez encountered a decent getaway from the front row, running fourth in the opening lap. The Spaniard rider showed consistent speed then in the 12-lap contest, battling for third until the chequered flag to secure a place on the rostrum. In the second half of the race, the 27-year old produced the decisive move for the podium, managing to create a gap until the end to cross the line in third.

In the meantime, Rivera faced her very first race in the World Championship, showing strong speed throughout the 12 laps of Race 1. Indeed, the 18-year old despite a challenging start, was able to make her way through the field, managing to recover from 14th to 11th, battling for a top-10 finish until the end, eventually crossing the line in 12th after producing decent speed. Unfortunately, the #20 was disqualified after the race due to failing to proceed directly to the scales, denying her the first WorldWCR Championship points.

Sara Sánchez: P3
“It’s a solid beginning, but we’re looking for more. For sure it’s a good thing to be starting the season with a podium finish, but it’s also a good sign we’re not completely satisfied with the result as we want more and more. We’re still struggling a little bit in some areas to be fighting for victory, but I’m confident we’ll be able to make a good job for tomorrow and that we could be battling tomorrow in Race 2.”

Natalia Rivera: DSQ
“It was a great emotion to make my debut in the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship, and we’ll aware we’re still in a learning process. The start was a challenging one as it wasn’t easy to manage the battle with those around, but each lap I felt more confident and I could improve my lap times, managing to recover places and be able to fight for the top-10. It’s a little bit of a shame that all our efforts were vane due to a misunderstanding which led us being disqualified at the end, but we accept it and we’ll learn from this.”