A double winner in the Moto Women category at last month’s opening round of the 2026 FIM Sand Races World Championship in Morocco, Mathilde Martinez – Honda heads to Italy for round two – the Bibione Sand Storm – this coming weekend (24-25 October) looking to build on her early lead.
The twenty-seven-year-old, a multi-time French national Motocross Champion, is making her series debut this year, although she already has solid experience racing in sand having won the Championnat de France des Sable (CFS) Women’s title and led home the female field at this year’s Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais where she finished an impressive sixty-seventh overall.
Her background racing the FIM Women’s Motocross Championship means she also is no stranger to infamous sand tracks like Valkenswaard in the Netherlands, and she aims to capitalise on her specialised skills in this season’s five-round series.
“It’s true that [sand] is demanding,” she said. “That’s why I only train on sand. Last year was my first full season in the French Sand Championship. Before that, I’d already competed twice at Grayan [in the Gurp TT] and twice at Le Touquet.
“Honda offered me the chance to compete in the full FIM World Championship following Le Touquet 2026. I’ve never been entered in this championship before because I’ve raced in events that clashed with the CFS. I followed the races last year and it’s true that the tracks make me want to race.”
Martinez was following in her father’s footsteps when she learned to ride at the age of three before beginning her racing career four years later and she went on to win back-to-back 125cc national women’s Motocross championships in 2016 and 2017 followed by the main women’s title in 2018.
For her first assault on the Moto Women class, she has been working with her Team Honda SR Motoblouz coach Christophe Meyer on riding and with former FIM MX3 Motocross World Champion Pierre-Alexandre Reneton her physical conditioning and it appears all the pieces of the puzzle are falling nicely into place.
“You always hope to win, but anything can happen during the race. I work hard to reach this level, so I’m glad the hard work is paying off. Winning the title would mean a lot of things, but above all it would be a reward for all the hard work I’ve put in over the years.”
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