Beatriz Neila won Race Two of the World Women’s Circuit Racing at Balaton Park Circuit, in Hungary. Riding her Ampito Crescent Yamaha YZF-R7 on Pirelli control tires, Neila won the 11-lap race by 0.220 second.
Chloe Jones was the runner-up on her GR Motosport Yamaha YZF-R7.
Maria Herrera was third on her Klint Forward Racing Team Yamaha YZF-R7, 0.862 behind race winner Neila.
American Mallory Dobbs finished 15th on her Diva Racing Yamaha YZF-R7 and American Sonya Lloyd got 22nd on her Team Trasimeno Yamaha YZF-R7. Wild-card Elisa Gendron finished the first race 24th on her Pons Italika Racing FIMLA Yamaha YZF-R7.
Maria Herrera leads the championship with 172 points, 9 ahead of Beatriz Neila who has 163 points. Roberta Ponziani is third with 112 points.
ChampionshipStandings WWCR
More from a press release issued by Dorna:
Neila cuts Herrera’s Championship lead back down to nine points, cancelling out Race 1 win. Neila managed moist conditions well to win her third race of the season.
The Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship took to the track for their final race of the Hungarian Round at Balaton Park Circuit.
Neila counters: The title fight rivals trade P1 and P3 across the weekend’s pair of races
Herrera leapt forward from P3 for the holeshot, Pakita Ruiz (PR46+1 Racing Team) and Jessica Howden (Team Trasimeno) also gaining positions. As the race continued, Jones and Nelia floated back to the podium battle with Herrera, separated by a margin of around a second from the rest of the group for most of the race. Neila rounded the outside of Herrera to pass her, leaving a window behind her just big enough for Jones to sneak by to shuffle Herrera to P3. Neila led the race into the final lap, the pair having separated themselves from Herrera, who was behind them. Jones pushed hard; however, she lacked the track position to make a move on Neila, landing the #36 her third career WorldWCR Race win. Jones finished in P2, for her third podium in four races. Championship leader Herrea earned her eighth consecutive podium; however, her P3 means her title lead was cut down to nine points.
P4 head-to-head duel: Sanchez and Ponziani laid it on the line for fourth
After braking late and running wide to lose several positions to the pack behind her on the entry to the first corner of the race, Sara Sanchez (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team) was unable to catch back up to the trio at the front. From P4, she led Roberta Ponziani (Klint Forward Racing Team) and Pakita Ruiz. Winding down to the final laps, Sanchez and Ponziani pulled away from Ruiz, Ponziani finishing P4 thanks to an overtake with two laps remaining, moving Sanchez to P5. While her pace declined from being able to fight for P4, she finished five seconds ahead of the pack behind her.
TOP 10 consistency: Boudesseul continues to land in the top 10 in her rookie season.
Avalon Lewis (Carl Cox Motorsports) finished her Hungarian Round in P7, an improvement from her Race 1 P8. In eighth place, Howden can hang her hat on the fact that she had a very strong start to the race, running up in P3 at one point. Lucie Boudesseul (GMT94-YAMAHA) earned her second ninth-place of the weekend, continuing her streak of top 10 finishes in races she finished. Mexican rider Astrid Madrigal (Pons Italika Racing FIMLA) earned the final spot in the top 10. The #83 has only missed the top 10 once so far this season.
The top six from the WorldWCR Race 2: Full results here!
1. Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha)
2. Chloe Jones (GR Motosport) +0.220s
3. Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Racing Team) +0.862s
4. Roberta Ponziani (Klint Forward Racing Team) +4.615s
5. Sara Sanchez (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team) +4.997s
6. Pakita Ruiz (PR46+1 Racing Team) +10.967s
Fastest lap: Chloe Jones – 1’53.089s
Championship standings
1. Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Racing Team) 172 points
2. Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) 163
3. Roberta Ponziani (Klint Forward Racing Team) 112
4. Sara Sanchez (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team) 111
5. Chloe Jones (GR Motosport) 93
6. Pakita Ruiz (PR46+1 Racing Team) 70
Catch the WorldWCR next time out at Magny-Cours as their title race continues to heat up WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 65% off!
Sonya Lloyd heads into the summer break after the opening four rounds of the 2025 FIM Women’s Circuit Racing Championship buoyed after her best qualifying performance and a return to the top twenty at the all-new Balaton Park in Hungary.
Arriving at the recently constructed 4.1km circuit which is located to the Hungarian capital – Budapest, the #32 Trasimeno Yamaha rider was confident of closing the gap to the leading riders in the series, something she achieved as the championship entered its second half.
Maximising laps at a new venue for the American by being first on track in both Free Practice and Superpole on Friday worked, with Sonya achieving her best grid position of nineteenth.
Race one was held in hot and humid conditions. Sonya held her own in the opening eleven lap encounter on Saturday. After being shuffled back off the start she eventually found herself inside the top twenty, lapping faster than the riders ahead. She crossed the line to secure her first top twenty finish since Cremona, in May.
Race two was also held in dry conditions after Sonya shone in the wet morning warm up session. Once again battling throughout, she crossed the line after a hard fought eleven laps in twenty-second position.
With four top twenty finishes in the eight races completed so far this season, Sonya is looking to further improve when the series returns at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in early September.
She is also working behind the scenes on a new interactive website which she will launch before the penultimate round of the series.
Sonya Lloyd: “Balaton Park was a new circuit for me. Practice went well. I made sure I was the first one out on track so that those who had tested at the track before would come by me and I could then chase them as much as possible. I was taking about a second a lap off my times in practice so this strategy in terms of getting up to speed faster worked. I felt good and knew what changes to make for Superpole. I had a bit of a lonely qualifying. I kept trying to find the pack but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. I wanted more but I qualified nineteenth which is my best grid position of the year so far which shows we are going in the right direction. It was nice in race one to be starting a bit further up the grid and it definitely gave me a jump into turn one. I got a bit squeezed through the opening couple of corners and lost a couple positions. It was hard to pass and the group I was with had completely different riding styles. I eventually made my way forward but by the time I had cleared the slower riders I had too much of a gap to close in the laps left. My lap times were as fast as the group fighting for seventeenth, which is encouraging, and I was gaining on them, I just ran out of laps. We had a wet warm up on Sunday and I was in the top three when I made a stop to check where I was. I felt good and decided to not risk anything before the race so never went back out. By the time race two began the rain had stopped. I got a better launch and was much more aggressive in the first couple of corners but then I got shuffled back a bit. It’s not the race I wanted, and I need to reset during the summer break and come back stronger. I know the results will come and my lap times are much closer to the points zone which is a positive as I head back to the USA. I am looking forward to Magny-Cours, a circuit which nobody has raced at, so see you all there.”