Sonya Lloyd produced one of her best FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship performances this past weekend at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours – in France, although the results on paper do not tell the whole story.
The French venue, which has been on the world Superbike calendar since 1991 was a new venue for WorldWCR – the penultimate round of the season for Sonya – and another new circuit for her to learn.
A solid start in Friday’s Free Practice sessions saw the #32 closer to the front than she had been all season which underlined the steps made both on and off track since she began her maiden campaign on the world stage.
An equally impressive start to the sole grid deciding session saw her improve her lap times still further before an unfortunate spill saw her crash, thankfully without injury, in the latter part of the session. She qualified twenty-second.
Saturday afternoon’s opening eleven lap race saw her make a brilliant start. Gaining places, she was running inside the top eighteen within a few corners! Involving herself in a multi-rider fight Sonya was riding well. Sadly, contact with another rider on lap two – a racing incident – saw her crash out of the race.
Sunday was always going to be tough, after she was given a long lap penalty for her part in Saturday’s coming together. Another strong start saw her once again gain places and she completed the long lap without incident. She crossed the line twenty-first, but the position does not reflect the whole story. The reality is that Sonya showed her ability to mix it with the world’s best and produced lap times throughout the weekend that were as fast as those running inside the points.
The final two races of the 2025 season will take place at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain in the middle of October. The circuit was where Sonya made her WorldWCR debut last year, so she heads there buoyed from her performance in France and the fact that she knows the track.
Sonya Lloyd:
“Race one did not go how I wanted it to. I had confidence and was determined to stay with the group, and I felt fantastic when race one got underway. I carried a lot of speed on the opening lap, and I found myself in the middle of the pack. There were riders banging into each other and riders blowing corners. I even got pushed off the track at one point. It was a bit crazy to say the least. All weekend I was strong in sector one so I knew I would be able to make some overtakes at that part of the track. The two riders in front of me went a little wide at the start of lap two around turn two and I went for the move. I held a tight line and then felt a big hit on my left side. The next thing I knew I was on the ground. Looking back at the video you can see that me and one of the riders ahead crossed paths in what is to me a racing incident and unfortunately, we both went down. I was given a penalty as I was the rider on the inside. These things happen but it wasn’t my intention to take out another rider. The team did a good job to rebuild the bike, and I was optimistic that even with the penalty we could show our speed. I made a good start in race two and felt good going into turn one. I had to take a long lap penalty for my part in the crash on Saturday so I had practiced it throughout warm up on Sunday morning so that I wouldn’t lose more time. I slotted in at the back of the field and ended up making a pass. I lost the draft from the group ahead and the harder I pushed the worse it got. I got my head down and started to make some inroads but in the end the group were just too far ahead. Overall, it was not the best weekend in terms of the race result, but it was a weekend full of new experiences, and I will keep putting everything that I am learning into practice, and the results will come. The next race is in Jerez, and I am feeling good about racing in Spain again. The target is points and I am going to come out swinging. Thank you to everyone who supports me and see you all in October.”
