FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship rookie Paola Ramos (Klint Racing Team) competed in her first wildcard appearance in the paddock at the Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto, Andalucia in 2025, making a splash with a debut P4, then a maiden win in Race 2. 2026 saw her raise the bar at the Pirelli Spanish Round even higher, taking pole, setting the fastest laps of the races, as well as winning both of the category’s races. Her effort completed her comeback up into third place in the Riders’ Championship, a mark she could have improved upon had she not suffered unfortunate crashes and missing Race 2 at Assen with injury.
A HELLACIOUS RACE 1 COMEBACK
Ramos’s 1’50.911s Tissot Superpole time set an all-new WorldWCR circuit record, outpacing Maria Herrera (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR) by nearly six tenths of a second. She was penalised after lights out in Race 1 after FIM WorldSBK Stewards deemed her to have made a jump start. She served the first of her two long laps on Lap 6, only falling down to second place as Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) and her had sailed nearly six seconds clear of the #6 at the head of the pack. She took her second long lap on Lap 7, finishing that lap a vast 3.455s behind the Madrid native. She wasn’t done fighting, however, and after setting a time seven tenths faster than the #36, she set a race lap record of 1’50.998s on Lap 9, 1.2s quicker than Neila to cut her gap to 1.3s. On the final lap, Ramos took P1 at Turn 6 and finished the race in that position. Farther back, Herrera took P6, clinching her the 2026 Riders’ title.
“I SAW BEA BEHIND ME, AND I HAD TO CLOSE THE DOOR IN MANY TURNS TO SECURE THE RACE WIN”
Ramos set off from pole in Race 2; however, while she made it into Turn 1 in first place, Herrera caught her by Lap 2 to briefly sit in P1. Looking for her exclamation point, Ramos took back P1 on Lap 3. Neila tailed the #58 doggedly, never finishing a lap more than half a second behind the rookie; however, Ramos took the season’s final win after putting on a defensive riding clinic over the final lap.
On the finale weekend at Jerez, Ramos said: “It was the perfect weekend after the pole and both victories, including winning on Saturday despite the Long Lap penalties. I’m super happy to close the season like this. In Race 2, I tried to put a gap. I saw Bea behind me, and I had to close the door in many turns to secure the race win.”
“I’M HAPPY TO HAVE FINISHED THIRD DESPITE HAVING FOUR RACES HAVING SCORED ZERO POINTS”
Ramos feels her third-place finish in the Riders’ Championship standings could have been better, given the blazing pace she showed throughout much of the season, winning only two fewer races than Herrera, who won six times. At the same time, however, she recognises the impressive accomplishment of coming back from fourth place in the standings, overcoming her Italian teammate Roberta Ponziani despite taking no points from four races in the 12-race season.
On her third-place finish in the 2026 campaign, Ramos said: “I’m happy to have finished third; it could have been better, and I’m glad to have pulled off a little comeback, but I’m happy to have finished third despite having four races in which I scored zero points. I’ll train a lot for next season to be strong.”
Look back on a stunning 2026 season and keep up with the class in 2027 by subscribing to the WorldWCR YouTube channel and following the Championship on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook!