Astrid Madrigal is competing in her second WorldWCR season and currently lies seventh in the standings. The 25-year-old has come a long way since discovering motocross as a young girl at home in Mexico, but this perhaps comes as no surprise to Astrid, who always knew motorcycles would be her calling:
“I rode motocross for the first time at 6 and it was like love at first sight. And then I saw a girl, Dalia was her name, and it was an inspiration for me to see a girl competing. But as I get older and saw different two- and four-wheel disciplines, there were no women. It was difficult and I figured I would have to just go out with the boys and try to be the best among the boys. I never thought of myself as a woman rider, just a rider. When the topic of promoting women’s motorcycling was raised – because I was something of a pioneer as a woman rider in Latin America – I jumped at the opportunity and thought, yes, this is the way, if more women join then I can try to be the best among the women. I was always clear that I wanted to be someone in motorcycling, someone important who could really promote the sport.”
Paving the way
It is no exaggeration to say that motorcycling is Astrid’s entire way of life, an all-encompassing passion for everything that riding represents. When not competing in WorldWCR, she works tirelessly with Italika Racing and as an FIM ambassador with the goal of helping to promote and develop young talents in Latin America and beyond and – who knows – perhaps even find the next women’s world champion!
“In Mexico we have a sport platform called Italika Racing, where we promote motorcycling across Latin America. Part of this is our high-performance riding school, where I help to develop young talents. They come and improve their riding and learn how to keep their motorcycles in order. Just recently we staged the first event of the year and had 24 girls aged between 13 and 25. And these girls come from all over, not just Mexico but also the United States, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia.”
“Then last year I became an FIM Ambassador for Latin America. My work in Mexico and in Latin America in general is to promote fresh talent, both boys and girls. So, I guide them and prepare them for life as a rider, how to work with a team in the garage, how to communicate and present themselves, with the aim of teaching them what it’s like to be part of a world championship. It is not easy to start from scratch and take them to a very high level and so the collaboration between Italika Racing and Pons Motorsport, a European team competing in WorldSSP300, is very valuable in this respect. In the end, we want Latin America to reach a similar level to Europe.”
| Astrid with her fellow FIM Latin America’s Elisa Gendron (left) and Sara Varon (right), who joined the Pons Italika Racing FIMLA team for the Hungarian Round. |
| Living the dreamHaving competed alongside men for many years, Astrid could not wait to sign up for the first edition of WorldWCR and finally have the chance to fight on a level playing field in a women-only series.“It’s a dream for me to be here. When I was a child, I always thought I was going to race with men and never imagined that we women would make so much ‘noise’. It started as a seed, two people, three, four, five and now we have built a world championship. For me, being here this year is a great effort, and my goal is to place top five. It’s tough because there are a lot of girls with a lot of experience, but I have no doubt that I have the ability. Ultimately, I want to be world champion.””I also have the assurance that the girls who come after me will have an easier path than I had. We’ve come a long way from our work in Latin America to having a world championship. We had to build the castle so to speak, and, now that it’s built, I will be able to guide and help other young girls.””Longer term, the dream for all of us would be to see this series grow, and to be able to bring it to Latin America of course! I think that Dorna has done well to make it a one-make series because it means that it is the rider who must make the difference. So doing that and encouraging that for everyone is very important. There are still many things to do, a thousand things, but we are going in the right direction, let’s say.” Shaping the future There is no doubt that the determined Astrid knows what she wants out of life, but she is equally keen to help other youngsters get to where they want to go. For anyone thinking about a possible future in motorcycling, she has this to say: “Follow your dreams, work hard and focus on what you really want! Any dream can come true if you work hard enough. Wherever you are in the world, look into opportunities such as WorldWCR or platforms like Italika Racing in Latin America. For example, the Italika Women’s International Cup has run for eight years already, and we’ve had girls from all over the world coming to compete. Of last year’s 24 WorldWCR entries, 11 of the girls had competed in at least one Italika Women’s International Cup event. And we continue to promote this so that more girls will join. I’m sure that in a few years there will be many more women’s national championships.” “In Latin America, we already see that there are a lot more female motorsport fans and you see many more girls taking part in track days. We have increased the ‘noise’, and we want to do more!” |
