A competitive field of Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship (WorldWCR) entries completed the first official shakedown test in Cremona, Italy, this week, where Australian Tayla Relph ended P6 on the timesheets.

It was former World Supersport 300 champion Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team) who set the benchmark following two days with a 1m41.446s lap-time, near seven-tenths clear of the field.

Tayco Motorsports rider Relph made her own piece of history on day one by leading the first-ever session of the category, eventually posting a 1m43.571s on the last lap of the final session to record P6 on combined times in an inspiring debut performance.

“First test complete for the Women’s World Championship and we are leaving Cremona sixth overall and 0.951s off a top-three result,” the 27-year-old reflected. “We finished the day strong in P4 and set my fastest time of the test on my final lap of today.

“A very positive two days overall – we topped the first-ever WorldWCR session, we led many laps across both days in both the wet and dry conditions, and we had an absolute blast! In my first session here, I definitely didn’t expect to be topping the timesheets. I’ve never ridden here before, never ridden the bike in Europe before and we only came here last week.

“To top the very first session for the history-making WorldWCR is a little bit of a dream come true. I’m loving this bike, feeling right at home in this paddock, and you can tell it’s such a family environment.”

The six-round 2024 FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship will get underway with the Emilia-Romagna Round at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on 14-16 June, where all 23 riders will be equipped with WorldWCR specification YZF-R7 machinery for the inaugural season.