Team manager Stefan Laux: “Lucy Michel needs to step out of her comfort zone”

In the inaugural 2024 season of the Women’s World Motorcycle Championship (WorldWCR), Lucy Michel finished in the points in 6 out of 10 races, scoring a total of 30 points and finishing 16th in the championship, just one point behind Chun Mei Liu and Emily Bondi, who were joint 14th overall.

In 2025, the women’s field competed in 12 races on the standard-spec Yamaha YZF-R7; the young rider from the Ore Mountains finished eight of them – again, two-thirds – in the points, securing 23 points to finish 17th overall.

So far this year, she has scored points just once in eight races – finishing 13th in the first race at Assen, aided by numerous retirements and penalties. Her current 24th place in the overall standings is not very encouraging, not only for her but also for her team boss at TSL-Racing, Stefan Laux.

The competition has got tougher

The experienced Franconian has his own views on the matter, which he was happy to share with SPEEDWEEK.com: “I completely agree with Lucy that the others have got stronger, but in my opinion, Lucy needs to invest more time. That’s the main problem, although I know she doesn’t have it. Many others are now doing this full-time – the top ten certainly are. Lucy has also got faster, but not as much as the others. Nevertheless, she needs to do more and invest more in what she does.”

I mean Lucy no harm; it’s a difficult subject.

Team manager Stefan Laux

“It’s always a question of what you want to achieve,” mused Laux. “The southerners have a completely different temperament. They give it their all. They don’t care about holidays or anything like that. They do everything for the sport. That’s just the crux of the matter and the question is: am I prepared to sacrifice 30 days’ holiday for racing, or do I say no, just ten? I don’t mean Lucy any harm, it’s a difficult issue. Of course, because of her job, Lucy has a time problem compared to other girls who do this as professional racers. Nevertheless, I don’t see her time problem as a major obstacle to training.”

Laux: Finding out when it all comes together

According to Stefan Laux, that’s one side of the coin, but he also looks at the other: “Lucy also needs to step out of her comfort zone and squeeze out that extra second. I know of cases where girls ride the R7 on kart tracks in the rain on slicks until they send the thing skidding into the corner – simply to know when it’s going to crash. You can do that with a mini-bike in a car park too, so you end up in tricky situations and then instinctively handle them correctly. You can do that with a pocket bike as well; you’re so low down that nothing really happens if you send the thing skidding off the track.”

Nevertheless, Stefan Laux knows that Lucy, with her small frame, has physical limitations that simply can’t be overcome. “Herrera rides with a 64-degree lean angle; Lucy, with her shorter arms, will never manage that. And if she tries, she simply can’t make the lever movements needed to correct it if she wobbles. Nevertheless, I believe she needs to push the limits more often. That’s what I mean by the comfort zone.”