Moto3: Ana Carrasco is first female Moto3 rider

Spanish teenager Ana Carrasco has been confirmed as the first female competitor to enter the Moto3 World Championship.

The 15-year-old will compete for Jaime Fern?ndez Avil?s' Madrid-based JHK Laglisse team in the class in 2013 alongside Maverick Vinales.

Carrasco tested her KTM machine with Vinales at Almeria this week.

She turns 16 in March, the mandatory age limit for entry into the series, and faces a new challenge after competing in the CEV Spanish Championship this year with the Laglisse team, finishing in the points in three races.

Carrasco bettered her previous fastest lap at Almeria by 1.2s during the test and is now counting the days until she will ride her official KTM machine in February.

"I am very happy about this opportunity Jaime [Fern?ndez Avil?s] and my sponsors are giving me," she said.

"To debut in the world championship is the dream of every rider.

"I was not expecting it and I am very enthusiastic about it. I can't wait to get into pre-season testing and do my first race," added Carrasco.

"In Almeria I didn't ride an official KTM, but the feeling I had with the standard bike was good and I'm pretty happy.

"The chassis is very different from what I've ridden this year and I rode over a second faster."

Taru Rinne of Finland was the first woman to score points in any GP class during the 1988 125cc season while Japan's Tomoko Igata was the most successful, achieving the highest placing for a female rider in the history of the championship with seventh in the Czech Republic during the 1995 season.