EXCITING CONTENT to do this sport , and then maybe we will find some with the level to arrive . But it is difficult to say if there is one thing to change because we do not have so many women .” Why Ana was the exceptional one , the one who has not just arrived but won a fully open and vastly oversubscribed world championship class is not an easy question to answer for the woman herself . But she had a go . “ I think I am fast because I had a lot of experience . I had the opportunity to arrive in the world championship very young and in my first years I did almost the same as everybody . I raced against all the riders in the same championship , not separated like now they are trying to separate girls , boys , so it is different to have the same level if you separate . So I did the same levels , championships and classes like them . Then here in the World Championship I am fast because I have a good team , a good bike and everybody around me is trying to help me to be fast . This is why I am trying to fight for the title every year . What I think is most important is that during my first years I did the same like all the riders .” Ana ’ s Provec Racing Kawasaki Team Boss in 2021 is also female , Carla Grau , and she arrived in the paddock because she knew the two brothers who front the overall KRT operation , Guim and Biel Roda . “ I was at University doing a degree in Sports Management , and I wanted to try this motorsports world . They invited me two years agin Portimao to help Eva ( the KRT team ’ s Media Manager , Eva Blanquez ) with communication issues . Then I went also to Magny-Cours and Qatar . Last year I was like the communication manager only for Ana . This year they decided to change a little bit my role and increase my responsibilities - I have not so much background as you can see , two years only .” The route to motorcycle racing involvement for Carla was - and this is a repeating story I found in my many conversations with women in the paddock
- through the ‘ male line ’ in her family . “ My father was a former rider , so when I was a child , always in my house we were looking for the MotoGP™ races - not the Superbike races at that time - during the weekends . So it is a sport that I like . I am not a racer I just ride a bike to go to the city but for me it is a great sport . I always like football , tennis , something like that , but motorsport , is like a big thing . You come to the paddock , with all the trucks and hospitalities , it is a really fascinating sport .” It was interesting quite how many in many paddock women I have spoken to over the years who had the same basic background story as Carla , who ’ s father with an interest in motorcycle racing . I put it to her that maybe things would really change - or a sure sign that we had reached a tipping point - when both parents not just the male one got their daughters into bike racing , as participants and workers . “ Yes ! That would be nice .” said Carla . “ If Ana someday had a child they could say , ‘ My mother was a rider !’ In ten years , or 15 years time , some people can say that their mother was a rider .” KRT is clearly on a roll with its employment of women , because Silvia Sanchez is the long-time team co-ordinator , former youth racer Eva Blanquez is the Communications Coordinator , Mara Soto is Six-time champion Jonathan Rea ’ s tyre technician and Txell Baró works in the designs and creative department . One more for good luck ? One-time hospitality assistant Carla Heredero has been promoted in 2021 to Hospitality Co-ordinator - the ultimate boss on that side of things . But , it would be entirely inaccurate to say that this extension of the racing jobs franchise to the ‘ other half of the population ’ is limited to that team in green . Right at the top of the WorldSBK house , Dorna personnel are frequently women , and often in positions of influence and decision making . Eva
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