AND the Women’s Speed World Championship is now a reality: celebrated on the circuit Misano, their first two races in a weekend for history. Once the scare from the initial accidents had passed, the two events offered a great show, with emotion and quality.
But, in addition, they served to raise awareness that women can perform at the highest level, in case anyone doubted it, and will serve as an incentive for some girls to perceive that motorcycling can also be their sport. That is one of the maxims for its creation, by the International Motorcycle Federation (FIM).
Precisely, the international organization set up a debate on the Italian track titled ‘Run to close the gender gap’. The following participated: Jorge Viegas, president of the FIM, Giovanni Copioli, vice president of the FIM and president of the Italian Federation, Damiano Zamana, Deputy to the CEO of the FIM, Janika Judeika, Director of the FIM Women’s Commission, David Bosser, Business and Sports Director at the World Superbike Championship, Paolo Pavesio, Marketing Director of Yamaha Motor Europe, Nancy Van de Ven, women’s motocross world champion, and Katja Poensgen, former World Cup driver. The Italian senator was a special guest Domenica Spinelli.
Towards equality
Viegas highlighted efforts to move towards equality. “We have worked a lot in recent years to spread equality in motor sport, work carried out on all continents. We are in charge of two specific things: guaranteeing safety in the facilities and providing more facilities for all those who want to try their luck in our wonderful sport. We were the first to organize a specific commission and, after a lot of work, after trial, motocross and enduro, now speed has also completed its route. There is a lot of work to do, but there is new evidence: leave requests by women are increasing and we will reach the goal where it will no longer make sense to distinguish between women and men”, he claimed.
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Don’t feel inferior
The pilots, Van de Ven and Poensgen agreed on several ideas to transmit to future generations: how important it was, above all, to affirm one’s passion within the family, to believe with determination in one’s own talent. Without ever feeling inferior to male colleagues. Katja, who raced in the 1990s, was a tutor for the drivers of the Women’s World Championship, the WorldWCR.
