SBK, Women's European Championship: 2024 season kicks off in Misano

The Women's European Championship (WEC) is ready to rev up its engines again. In fact, the 2024 season of the Motorcycle Championship, organized by EMG Eventi and MotoXracing under the aegis of FIM Europe, will start this weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, coinciding with the start of the Dunlop CIV and the Women's CIV.

The WEC riders will be lining up along with their colleagues in the Italian championship for the first of eight races, divided into five rounds, which are scheduled for the 2024 season. The second in which the women's series, inaugurated in 2020 as the Women's European Cup, will enjoy the status of a true European championship.

Between confirmations and new faces, ten female rider from Italy, Spain, Poland, Estonia, and Malaysia will be on the grid this year. An increasingly international line-up, where the big favorite will be 2023 Vice-Champion Natalia Rivera, who's ready to follow four-time European Champion Beatriz Neila Santos at this year's start of the newly created Women's World Cup.

Along with Roberta Ponziani, who will also be present, and Aurelia Cruciani and Sara Cabrini, who decided to take a sabbatical, will be Nicole Cicillini and Arianna Barale representing Italy in the championship, with also Beatrice Barbera, Silvia Comincioli, and rookies Denise Dal Zotto and Josephine Bruno. Malaysian rider Saudatul Zakirah Zairin will also be there for her first experience in the championship, completing the line-up along with Patricja Sowa and Maria Saluste.

As usual, the first weekend of the season will start with two free practice sessions scheduled for Friday, April 7th. These will be followed by two qualifying sessions on Saturday, and the race, which will start at 10:40 a.m. on Sunday.

Photo credit: Women's European Championship