COSTELLO AND SMITH MAKE NEW ALL-FEMALE SIDECAR TEAM FOR TT 2025

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Maria Costello MBE will make her 17th appearance at the Isle of Man TT Races later this year and her 37th start on both two and three wheels.

The Northamptonshire rider will contest both Metzeler/Entire Cover insurance Supertwin TT races on a Galgorm Resort branded VRS Racing Kawasaki Z650 and will again line up in the two 3wheeling.Media Sidecar TT races onboard her own Galgorm LCR Honda F2.


Costello, now in her 30th year of motorcycle racing, will be joined by Alice Smith, the 20-year-old set to tackle the 37 and ¾-mile Mountain Course for the very first time and the pairing have been building up to this, their biggest challenge on three wheels, since they started racing together in 2023.



Costello made her TT debut in 2002, six years after competing at the Manx Grand Prix for the first time, contesting both 600cc and 1000cc Production races.



After competing at three successive TT meetings between 2002 and 2004, Costello focused solely on the Manx GP from 2005 to 2009, taking third in the 2005 Lightweight race and becoming the first female solo rider to stand on a Mountain Course podium in the process. Another podium was taken in 2011, third again the outcome in the Classic 250cc race.

 


2010 saw Maria make her return to the TT, and she’s been an ever-present competitor since, concentrating her two-wheel efforts in the Supertwin class from 2014 onwards with an excellent 12th place in 2016 her best result. In all, four top twenty finishes have been recorded in the class.

 

In 2019, Costello added the Sidecar class to her programme taking a best finish of 17th with Julie Canipa where they lapped at almost 103mph. Last year saw her take two more top twenty finishes with Gary Wheeler in the chair, including a best of 16th, increasing her personal best lap on three wheels to 103.189mph.

 

Two more finishes were taken in the Supertwin class twelve months ago and this year she returns for more, riding the Galgorm VRS Kawasaki and with support from SR Smith Racing, MJW Specialists and Alan Gardner, her own Galgorm Resort Honda LCR F2 sidecar.

 

“I’m really excited about this year’s TT, as much as I’ve ever been, and I’m equally excited about what Alice and I can achieve, said Costello.

 

“We did a few meetings together in 2023 and again in 2024, finishing on the podium and improving our lap times, so we are working really together. Alice is on a super steep learning curve but she has talent and so much potential, and her youthful exuberance rubs off on me! We’ve had some mechanical challenges to contend with in the run up to the TT but thanks to Wayne and my incredible sponsors we are really looking forward to this TT.

 

“Last year’s races didn’t go as well as I would have liked but with the VRS Supertwin and modifications to the sidecar to improve the speed we should be in a better position to build back up again and improve throughout the fortnight.

 

“I’m delighted to have Galgorm Resort on board as title sponsor for both disciplines and it’s great to have them involved with my TT effort.”