GR MOTOSPORT STARTS WORLDWCR SEASON at The CATHERDRAL of SPEED
The Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship kicks off at Assen in the Netherlands this weekend. WorldWCR is an exciting part of the World Superbike Championship series and will feature at 6 events with 2 fantastic races at each event, and there are always loads of brilliant promotional events for the WorldWCR women throughout the weekend as the event attracted a lot of attention within the paddock
Our winter preparation for the start of the season has seen challenges trying to gain experience and learn all the new circuits for both Team and Rider. Assen was a challenge where we managed a few important laps on The GR Motosport R7 and a few more in a track car.
On arrival at Assen we soaked up the traditional vibrant race weekend atmosphere of the town and circuit something that has to be experienced to understand.
WorldWCR Round 1 – Day 1
With great weather here at Assen for the fans and competitors alike, after all the Team and Chloe’s hard work put in over winter it was time to get the season started here at the Cathedral of Speed
Chloe has minimal experience at the track, but there is nothing like mixing with the Women you are racing with.
Free Practice did throw up a few challenges for Chloe and the experience of the front few cannot be underestimated, but we settled in to a strong 6th place at the end of the session.
For the afternoons Superpole qualifying we made some changes to the R7 as Danny and Chloe worked through the Data.
Chloe got a great run going quicker as the grid closed up finishing 7th on the grid and looking forward to Saturdays first Race ..
Assen Race 1
The WorldWCR had the honour of being the first race of the weekend and the Women did not disappoint the huge sun-baked crowd.
Chloe starting 7th on the grid got away well with the leaders and into 5th but track experience of the front riders started to show as they edged away in the 12-lap race.
Chloe push hard in a great battle taking 1.6 seconds off her qualifying time.
At the flag Chloe took a fantastic 6th place in her first race of the season and importantly will start tomorrow’s race from the 2nd row.
Well done to all the Women for putting on a great race for the fans.
Assen Race 2
A difficult morning for all the Women and Teams for the start of WorldWCR race 2 – It had rained overnight making warm up the first time the Women had tried wets this season.
The rain continued into the Superbike race before us, but As that race came to an exciting close the Dutch Sun came out and started to dry things up pretty quickly.
#WorldWCR Race 2 was declared a wet race and everyone when to the grid accordingly and then as it dried more there was frantic grid action to change to slick tyres for the start.
Chloe starting 6th made a great start but a couple of mistakes in the conditions dropped her back a little and it took an effort to get back into her rhythm by which time the front 4 had broken away.
Chloe was in a great race long battle taking a strong 7th at the Flag.
The first round of WorldWCR has presented us with some challenges which as a Team we are so happy to have overcome. We are now a strong 6th in the championship standing and looking forward to round 2 in Italy
Chloe Jones reflects on her Weekend: – “My First weekend as a full time @worldwcr rider completed!
I came away with p7 in superpole and p6 and p7 in both races!
Today’s race wasn’t perfect, I made a couple mistakes which cost me, one being that I ran wide at turn 1 on the 2nd lap which allowed the front 4 to get away from me. But it’s another race where I was learning every lap from riders who are in there second year.
Another positive is that it was one of my first times riding in wet conditions this morning on the Yamaha r7 and I felt really comfy, which is something that I’ve lacked a lot in the last couple of years.
Thank you to Brent and GR Motosport for the amazing opportunity and to Danny and Dk’s hard work on my bike. Thank you to all my sponsors that have got me here! None of this would be possible without you all!
And finally, a massive thank you to all the fans at Assen this weekend! They were all crazy what a fantastic atmosphere, I can’t wait for Cremona in 3 weeks’ time.
Brent Gladwin Owner at GR Motosport said. “Brilliant just bloody brilliant – What a weekend! When we set off with the idea of leaving the comfort of BSB to join the World Championships it was quite a daunting challenge. The winter preparation has whilst hard work and challenging at times all paid off this weekend. We brought an excellent small but tight knit Team to WorldWCR which proved the right decision as we leave the first round equal on points for 5th place in the standings.
Chloe guided by my Team did a great job and now we can look forward to more exciting challenges in Italy at the next round in Cremona.
Clare is creating awesome content across all our social media platforms for you to follow and engage with @grmotosport on Facebook, Instagram and X with up to the moment News, Stories and competitions, and there is the opportunity to support Chloe by joining the Chloe Club
If you are interested in joining our championship journey as a sponsor please don’t hesitate to contact me sponsorship@grmotosport.co.uk