Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1447191
Ana Carrasco Back In Moto3 S paniard Ana Carrasco will leave the WorldSBK and return to the Grand Prix paddock in the Moto3 class for 2022. The Spaniard, who became the first woman ever to win an FIM road racing world championship when she clinched the 2018 Supers- port 300 title, raced in Moto3 from 2013 to 2015 and will race the coming season for the BOE Racing team. "Racing is tough, not just on track where people see but also at times like this when you have to make tough decisions," Carrasco said. "My ambition is always to grow as a rider, to set myself new goals that oth- ers see as impossible and to achieve them. When my par- ents bought me my first mini- bike and then I started racing, of course, my dream was like any rider, 'one day I want to be a World Champion.' "For sure, if one day if I have to leave this [WorldSBK] pad- dock, it will be difficult," Carras- co said. "For me, the WorldSBK paddock is like my house. For many years, I was here. Also, for me, I think I'm the rider who I am because of WorldSBK." CN Back to the future for Ana Carrasco as she rejoins the GP paddock in 2022. IN THE WIND P40 Ducati Ramps Up EWC Team For 2022 T he ERC Endurance Racing Team will have a powerhouse lineup as Ducati aims for its first-ever Endurance World Champi- onship title in 2022. Italian Ducati test rider Lo- renzo Zanetti, who famously scored Ducati's first Mo- toAmerica win in a decade at Indianapolis in 2020, will be joined by Frenchman Mathieu Gines and Spaniards Da- vid Checa and Xavi Fores, making them one of the strongest lineups on the EWC grid. "With Mathieu Gines, Lorenzo Zanetti, David Checa and Xavi Fores we have four absolute endurance specialists that are quick as hell," said EWC En- durance Ducati Team Manager Frank Hoffmann. "For ERC Endurance it is a big honor to have four such high profile riders joining us after just one year as it shows we gained a lot of respect in our first season in the FIM Endurance World Championship. We were quick and our Pani- gale V4R was more than reliable with our mechan- ics doing a great job in the pits. Of course, we had to learn a lot and we have to take the learned things to 2022 to even get better. But it is a fact that with this bike and those four riders we have all the tools to fight for podiums, wins and the sharp end in the overall stand- ing of the 2022 FIM Endurance World Championship." CN (L-R) Gines, Zanetti, Fores and Checa will form the ERC Endurance Ducati team in 2022.