Her story: Meet Maria Herrera

One of motorsport’s top female achievers
Spanish rider Maria Herrera has been involved in elite level motorcycle racing for more than a decade and is one of the most experienced and talented riders in the WorldWCR. She has competed successfully against some of the best male riders in the world in the Moto3™ World Championship and WorldSSP300 and this year she combines her bid to become the first ever WorldWCR title winner with participation in the MotoE™ championship for a sixth consecutive season, now riding for the KLINT Forward Factory Team.
 
The start of an adventure on two wheels
Herrera started riding at six years old, encouraged by her brothers and her father, who himself was already a keen motorcyclist. Her first bike was a Polini minibike which her father had also raced on and she recalls riding tirelessly, “until the gas ran out”. She also happily remembers, “When I ran my first race and finished third, I was 6 years old. I have a memory that they gave me €30 and I shared it with my two brothers.”
 
Oropesa and Talavera de la Reina
Born in Oropesa (Toledo), just to the south west of Madrid, Herrera is a friend and training partner of double WorldSBK World Champion Alvaro Bautista, who comes from Talavera de la Reina, another nearby small town. The two fierce competitors have known each other for many years and Herrera describes Bautista as her favourite rider, respecting him for his, “resilience and discipline in life”. She explains, “I’ve always trained with my father or with Alvaro Bautista and I always wanted to beat him in training, so it’s just normal to battle with him.”

A rapid rise to the top
Having raced in Spanish junior and national championships, Herrera became the first female competitor to win a race in the FIM CEV Repsol series in 2013. That year she also made guest appearances in the Moto3™ World Championship at the Spanish rounds as a wildcard, doing the same in 2014. Then in 2015 she participated in her first full Grand Prix season, sharing a box with fellow Spaniard Isaac Viñales at the Husqvarna Factory Laglisse team and producing some strong performances which helped her to score nine points in her debut campaign. Having suffered some bad luck in 2016, she rode again the following year for the new coming AGR Team Moto3™ squad, switching to WorldSSP300 for 2018, which saw her record a best race result of fourth as well as several top ten finishes. In 2019 she moved to MotoE™ with the Angel Nieto Team for a fresh challenge and her first season competing on electric motorcycles featured a best result of fifth in Misano. Herrera has continued in MotoE™ in recent years and is now competing in the championship for a sixth successive campaign, which has seen her on the starting line in 60 races, adding to her total of 54 Grands Prix appearances in Moto3™, making her one of the most experienced elite level female riders in the world.

Maria explains… her role of promoting and coaching female riding talent
“It’s a pleasure for me to help other girls. I am in the RFME helping in the women’s commission giving training courses to younger and older riders.I have a campus, training girls from 5 years old up to 45 or 50! It’s special to spend time with all the girls and share my experience from Moto3™ and MotoE™. They ask me questions and it is good to pass time with the younger generation of riders. I love it. Also, the values. We have to transmit the values of this sport and this is good. To respect your opponents. You have to push to the limit, but you have to respect your opponents. In the new championship many girls come to my box and they ask me how they can improve on some corners or some places on the track and I can give them some advice. For me that’s good, because in the future they will become the present. For me it is my moment, but I also want to see other women at the top level, so it’s important for me to be a reference for them.” Herrera continues, “Now they have a championship where they can have a lot of fun and learn from high-level competition. I think it is a total success because now all the girls can see us.”

Always physically active
Even before making racing her career, Herrera has always been very active. She has skied all her life, winning prizes in that discipline as well, before switching to motorbikes and finding her true passion. “It’s a sport that gives you a feeling of happiness,” she explains. “When you ride a motorcycle and you feel at one with it, it’s incredible. I think it is one of the most beautiful sports.” She also loves playing football and roller skating. Then there is her routine to stay fit: “I also do a lot of road and mountain biking and swimming, which is great for your back.” To relax, Herrera enjoys painting. “I love to paint animals. I want to improve, to paint real-like animals. I love doing their eyes! Not too real, because I can’t,” she laughs, “but that is the style I’m trying to achieve.”

Who have you learned the most from?“My father. He’s the person who understands life and the bad moments. He’s the person that if we have some problems, he thinks, ‘how can I solve it?’ For me it’s important to have him beside me and push me at the right moment.”

What life lessons have you learned from racing? “When I broke my back, I had a bad moment. I thought, I can’t continue. But step by step, training, day by day, I get some small goals. For example now, I’m winning races, but if I’d given up, I couldn’t have done it. So for me, the lesson is you cannot give up. It will always be difficult, you can have a bad moment, but in the end you can achieve it. If you train, if you keep working and just believe in yourself.”

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