Misano, Superpole: Paola Ramos defeats Maria Herrera in record time

The WorldWCR 2026 has been on hiatus since Hungary six weeks ago, with the meeting at the Misano World Circuit being the fourth of a total of six events. The women's only series last visited the track on the Adriatic in 2024.

After Sara Sanchez had to miss her home race in Aragon (hand injury), the 28-year-old has been cleared by the race doctors for Misano. However, the injured French rider Lucie Boudesseul will not be taking part and will be replaced by her compatriot Justin Pedemonte. Italian Josephine Bruno completes the field with a wildcard.

In free practice on Friday morning, Maria Herrera set the fastest lap in 1:49.256 minutes, which was already faster than her own pole record. Curiously, however, Beatriz Neila's lap record, which will be set in the race, is significantly faster at 1:47.961 minutes. Bruno, Roberta Ponziani and Neila remained within one second of the world champion.

The 25-minute Superpole session got underway at 13:30 in sunny conditions and 24 degrees Celsius. Several riders were still waiting for Herrera in the pit lane to take advantage of the fast Spaniard's slipstream. Neila set the first impressive lap time in 1:49.499 minutes - at this point Herrera had not even completed the warm-up lap. With a time of 1:48.692 minutes on her first flying lap, the 29-year-old beat the record. Subsequently, many of the participants' best sector times flashed up on the monitor, but there was no improvement at the finish line.

That changed after ten minutes when Paola Ramos burnt a 1:48.144 min into the tarmac. The 19-year-old followed up with a 1:47.718 min, putting her 0.3 seconds ahead of Neila, Bruno and Herrera. Only the top four were within a second of each other. At the halfway point, Lucy Michel was in 21st place, 4.6 seconds behind, and while Ramos made a pit stop, Herrera improved to a 1:48.007 min and second place.

With five minutes to go, Ponziani had caught up with the front group 0.4 seconds behind and was the best Italian behind the three dominant Spaniards. It remained the same: with the record, Ramos ended Herrera's pole streak, which has been running since the start of the season, and she will start the first race from second on the grid. Neila completes the front row.

Ponziani and Bruno and Karolina Danak from Poland will start from the second row.

Lucy Michel qualified 4.4 seconds behind in 23rd place on the grid.