Superbike: The eni FIM Superbike World Championship opens its doors to women

The 2012 eni FIM Superbike World Championship season is coming to an end.

Many things are changing. The Championship is opening the doors to new markets: this year, for the first time in the history of the motorcycling world championships, it was held in Russia and for next season there are fifteen rounds on the calendar. The most striking news certainly concerns the debut in India and Jerez de la Frontera and the great returns at Laguna Seca and Indonesia.

Another important change that the world of Superbike is experiencing concerns the work commitment of women in the ranks of Organizers, Sponsors and Teams. Female representation is continually increasing; we met among the professionals involved in the series-derived championship Valentina Conti, Sponsorship & Int'l PR Associate Manager of Infront Motor Sports, the company that organizes and manages the World Cup, Ilaria Casarini, Wsbk Marketing Coordinator of the Pirelli Racing team, and Silvia Sanchez, press officer of the Kawasaki PROVEC Team.

Women who built themselves, who after years of hard training have come to occupy positions "that matter" and which, until recently, were considered exclusive to men.

Q.: Valentina, how did your work experience begin within the Infront team? What exactly do you do?

A.: I joined the Infront team a year and a half ago, at the beginning of the 2011 championship.
For me it was an excellent opportunity because I have always been a huge fan of motors, Superbikes in particular, and I am a motorcyclist so for me it was like fulfilling a dream. At the same time it was a great challenge and I also took risks because I am not a journalist and I have never been a press officer.

For the fourteen years preceding this I worked in communications in an advertising and marketing agency, although always in contact with the world of motors, more four wheels than two. There I started to learn a bit about the clash/confrontation with men who are obviously very present numerically and, obviously, in the most decision-making roles.

Here I was lucky enough to meet people like Paolo Ciabatti (Director of Superbike World Championship ed.) and Julian Thomas (Press Office Associate Manager ed.) who welcomed me and gave me this opportunity. I believe that the presence of women is required in the organization of sporting events, with a view to coordinating and managing logistics, relations and relationships; it seems a bit trivial to say it but we have a more overall vision and this is also how we then have the possibility to ask for space.

This year, so with the start of my second season, Infront gave me the opportunity to play an even different and important role by also assigning me responsibility for sponsorships; I therefore deal with relations with the media, with the press, with everything related to the world of organizing a sporting event and at the same time I also manage the visibility of our sponsors, also optimizing communication activities as best as possible, both in circuit and outside, before the various events.

Q.: How difficult was it to assert your skills in a predominantly male world?

A.: Earning the trust of others, first of all men, is very challenging; you have to clash with those who think that you don't even know what an engine is made of or what the difference is between a two and a four cylinder engine. I was lucky enough to have intelligent interlocutors who were open to understanding my potential and this certainly helped me, leaving me a free path.

Q.: It seems that Superbike is opening up to the advent of women, not just as parasols. What do you think about it?

A.: Inside the garages, the figures who deal with logistics, coordination, hospitality and relationships are now almost all women. And this also happens in the official teams, not just in the small teams in the categories surrounding Superbike, which may perhaps have management needs that are a little more at a family level. In the official teams we now have press officers, the "do-it-all" women who almost have "the ability to be in three places at the same time" which is something that their male colleagues rarely manage to do.

Q.: What advice do you give to women who would like to follow the same path as you?

R .: I certainly recommend knowledge, or study in case of lack of experience, of what the sector is.
In the end it is the facts that count; we need to show the people around us, who select us, who observe us during the test period, that we know how to talk about engines, that we understand the subject, that we have a knowledge of the historical, which in our case is 25 years of extraordinary sporting activity, and certainly a lot of application.

It's a difficult job to reconcile with a family life or with other types of interests: I'm single and at the moment I have no needs or prospects of starting a family because it would be very difficult, while we know that most of the men who are in the paddock they are married with children.

Then a commitment, spirit of sacrifice and a lot of technical knowledge of the subject.

Q.: Ilaria, what is your role within the Pirelli Superbike Team?

R .: I deal with marketing and sponsorships.
I am the Infront account regarding our Superbike contract; I therefore take care of the co-marketing activities that we can do with them and then I follow the marketing part with the local Pirelli markets around the world.

Furthermore, in the office I take care of cost control while I left the logistics sector when I became a mother.

Q.: How do you balance life as a mother and that of a professional on the track?

A.: It's hard, you have to slow down a bit.
I'm still making the most of my motherhood so I'm able to dedicate more time to my daughter than perhaps I could with a purely office job; the fact that I am often away on weekends is not optimal, especially for her, but I believe that this, like all jobs, has its pros and its cons.

Let's say that I am lucky to work in this Championship, with this Team and with this boss (Giorgio Barbier, head of Pirelli sports activities ed.); now I have decided to put the brakes on my career possibilities but I continue to do the work I like, organizing myself as best as possible to spend as much time as possible with my daughter.

Q.: You now play an important role recognized by all but how do you get to these levels? In your opinion, what should a woman do to be accepted in a predominantly male world?

A.: Simply put, you must be lucky enough to meet the right people who recognize your value, as happened to me with Giorgio Barbier and those who preceded him. A degree in engineering or in any case a usually more masculine education certainly helps. And then you regularly have to prove twice as much as you would if you were a man.

You must then try to maintain all relationships on a professional level; I'm not saying never smile but if you want to work in this environment, occupying positions of a certain importance, you have to demonstrate that you deserve them and that you are a professional, at the risk of seeming, especially at the beginning, a little unfriendly or unpleasant.
Then, when they recognize your role as a professional, everything becomes easier.

However, you must avoid being stubborn in obtaining certain information or data; sometimes you have to play smart, getting help from the colleagues around you to get what you need. The objective must not be to impose oneself as a woman but to find the trick to have the information necessary to do one's job well.

You have to work at a low profile, demonstrating that you know how to do your job well, knowing that being a woman sometimes involves limitations, other times advantages.

Q.: Silvia, how did you start working in the world of motor racing?

R .: I have been working in the motorcycle world for many years.
I started working in a company that deals with fairings for racing motorcycles, then I moved to the Spanish championship. Finally I arrived in Superbike and here I met many people I had met over the years spent in Spain and, above all, in the fairing company where I worked, because we supplied many teams in the Spanish championship and MotoGP.

Q.: Now you work for Team Kawasaki PROVEC, what is your role?

A.: I am the press officer and from this year also the team coordinator of Team Kawasaki.

I manage flights, trips, I take care of organizing the interviews of our pilots, Tom (Sykes), Loris (Baz) and before him Joan (Lascorz), I do everything I can to help the team.

I also take care of bureaucratic issues such as guest accreditations.

Q.: How do you find it working in a predominantly male environment?

A.: Fortunately I am not the only woman in the team, with me there is also Marta, who takes care of the catering.
However, the world of motorbikes is a world of men and women are mainly seen as "simple umbrellas".
However there are roles in which we do better; Sometimes pilots also need to be able to rely on a person who can act as a mother or sister when they aren't there.

You have to make sure that nothing is missing and sometimes it is more difficult for men to keep track of everything that may be necessary.

The percentage of women present in the world of motor racing is still minimal, but the example of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship and the professional protagonists of this article are certainly a good omen for the near future.