Tayla Relph joins new women’s racing series
The entry list for the first ever FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship was released in February and Australia will be a part of it. Tayla Relph will be flying the flag as the sole Aussie rider in the all-female race series that gets underway this June.
The 24-rider grid (including two reserve riders) is loaded with European talent, but has been drawn from all over the world, including the USA, Central and South America, Israel, Japan, the UK and South Africa. Arguably the highest profile name on the grid is Ana Carrasco, the 2018 World Supersport 300 Champion who’s most recently been competing in Moto3.
Riders had to apply to be a part of the inaugural series, with more than 40 entries whittled down to the final 24. All will be on identical Yamaha YZF-R7 machines using the ‘CP2’ 689cc parallel twin. While limited technical assistance will be provided, each entrant will need to bring their own support crew and fund their way around Europe for the six-round series. For Relph, just getting to Europe will be a bigger expense than most of her rivals, so she launched a GoFundMe page back in January to try and cover the costs of competing in the championship.
Held in conjunction with selected rounds of this year’s FIM Superbike World Championship, the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship (WorldWCR) gets underway at Misano in June and concludes at Jerez in October.
Born in Queensland but now based in Victoria, 27-year-old Relph has been circuit racing since she was 10, so will bring a lot of experience to the WorldWCR grid. That experience includes finishing second runner-up in the 2016 Australian Moto3 Championship, plus race and round wins in the Australian Supersport 300 Championship. Relph has also raced internationally, but never in anything of the scale of WorldWCR.
While some riders are backed by big-name teams like Evan. Bros Racing and Pata Prometeon, Relph will be entered under her own TAYCO Motorsport banner, with only partner Ted Collins and her dad, Steven, as support crew. She’ll be based mostly in the UK for the duration of the championship.
The financial cost for Relph to compete in the WorldWCR is estimated at around $200,000. While sponsors have got her partway to that total, with some assistance from Motorcycling Australia, too, more support is needed. To help Relph get overseas and take on the best female circuit racers in the world, look for her GoFundMe page. Any donation is welcome.
For updates on the WorldWCR, go to: worldbsk.com
2024 WorldWCR calendar
Round Date Country Circuit
01 14-16 Jun San Marino Misano
02 12-14 Jul Great Britain Donington Park
03 09-11 Aug Portugal Portimao
04 23-25 Aug Hungary Balaton Park*
05 20-22 Sep Italy Cremona*
06 18-20 Oct Spain Jerez
* Subject to homologation
