Maria Herrera

Maria Herrera

Date of Birth: August 26th, 1996 Place of Birth: Madrid, Spain Residence: Sant Cugat High Performance Center, Barcelona,  Spain Nationality: Spanish Years as a Repsol rider: 2 (including 2013)

Sporting career

Biography

Not remembering when you climbed on a bike for the first time is not the most common occurrence, and neither is the love of Maria Herrera (August 26th, 1996, Oropesa, Toledo) for motorcycles. What is normal instead is that someone with her ambition should reach the World Championship. The rider from Toledo started out in the world of two wheels thanks to her father, who passed down his love of motorcycles and speed to Maria, her older sister and younger brother. Before this, her father had already helped with the early career of current MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista –who now acts as a sporting godfather to Maria.

The young rider first put on a helmet to ride a bike when her classmates at school were still playing with dolls. She started out with a 50cc machine and rode in the Cuna de Campeones a few months later.  Her precocious talent did not go unnoticed by the organisers, who selected her for a scholarship. Fifth place in her first race was the prelude to seven consecutive years in the championship. Herrera alternated those races with participation in the Metrakit World Festival, which she won twice.

Her second place finish overall in the Cuna de Campeones Pre 2010 125cc GP caught the attention of the Monlau Competition team, with whom she raced in the Mediterranean Championship Pre Moto3 class the next season. 2011 was the year of a big jump up. In the six event season, Herrera took three wins, one second place and a third -sufficient results to be crowned champion in her rookie year with a race in hand. To round off a dream year, the young prodigy was selected amongst the 107 pilots of 25 different nationalities to contest the RedBull Rookies Cup for 2012, ultimately deciding to reject the offer in search of new challenges.

Her sporting career, potential and the admiration of all who have seen her fighting on track earned Maria Herrera incorporation into the Repsol ranks in 2012, supporting her promising career in the Spanish Championship (CEV ) Moto3 class. She occupied the place vacated by Alex Rins when he moved up to the World Championship, sharing a garage with CEV champion that year, Alex Marquez, and Italians Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia and Lorenzo Baldassarri.

After finishing twenty-third in the opening round at the Jerez circuit, she broke her shoulder blade in a crash suffered in practice at the second round of the year. Gradually recovering her feeling with the bike, race-by-race Maria improved upon her results, gaining the experience to face new challenges in the future.

This year, Herrera again competes in the CEV Repsol and currently holds two wins, at Aragon and Navarra. Good results have earned her a wild card invitation at the Moto3 Aragon Grand Prix, where she accompanies Alex Rins and Alex Marquez.