Ana Carrasco became the first female rider in history to win a world championship motorcycle race after she clinched victory in a thrilling World Supersport 300 encounter in Portugal.
Carrasco spent three years in the grand prix world championship in the Moto3 class from 2013-2015, though struggled for much of that time.
However, she was able to show flashes of brilliance, scoring a 15th at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix and an eighth at the season-ending Valencia race that same year while riding for the Calvo KTM squad.
The Spaniard spent a year in the CEV Repsol Moto2 series in 2016 before switching to the all-new Supersport 300 World Championship – which forms part of the support package for World Superbikes – for 2017.
Carrasco – who rides a Kawasaki for ETG Racing – has impressed throughout the 2017 WorldSSP300 campaign, scoring points in all six rounds prior to this weekend’s race in Portugal.
Having secured a maiden front row start for the 11-lap race at the Algarve circuit on Saturday, Carrasco spent the entirety of the contest battling in the lead pack.
Carrasco exited the final corner on the last lap in second spot, but managed to slingshot past Halcourier Racing rider Marc Garcia to take an historic maiden win by just 0.053 seconds.
The victory moves Carrasco up to seventh in the standings on 57 points, 45 from championship leader Alfonso Coppola – who was second in Portugal – with two rounds left of the inaugural WorldSSP300 season.
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