An all-new FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship is to launch in 2024 to run at selected rounds of the WorldSBK Championship, it has been announced.

The new project has been created to ‘widen access’ for elite female short circuit racers at the highest levels, increase visibility and improve opportunities to compete on the same level with their male counterparts.

Revealed during the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez, the inaugural season will run to a six double-header season (12 races) on the WorldSBK support programme in 2024. The series will be single-make, with a supplier to be announced in due course.

“This is the first time ever, since 1904, that we are going to start next year with the FIM Women’s World Championship,” said FIM President Jorge Viegas.

"We gave a lot of thought to this, and we had a lot of demand. As we do in Motocross, Enduro and Trial, we are starting with a women’s World Championship next year in circuit racing. Our plan is to have six races in Europe, and we are planning to do a single brand competition. 

“We will try to have women from all over the world racing in this new Championship. It will be organised primarily within the frame of the WorldSBK Championship.

"It's a Championship where we want women to be pro. It's not a step to another category, we want women who race here to be able to earn a wage as a rider, as professionals. We hope to start in March or April next year."

The launch of the FIM Women’s Motorcycling World Championship mirrors similar efforts to get an all-female series off the ground in support of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

While the W Series - won each year by Jamie Chadwick - has since fallen into administration, the FIA has now launched its own F1 Academy, which will support a handful of F1 events in 2023.

The move comes after Ana Carrasco made history in 2018 by becoming the first woman to win an official FIM World Championship against male counterparts in the 2018 WorldSSP 300 Championship.