The second race of the 2022 FIM Enel MotoE World Cup opening round lived up to the high expectations set yesterday by the first encounter of the season, with another impressive show put together by the stars of the series aboard their Energica Ego Corsa machines. Just like 23 hours before, Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) managed to edge out the competition and was joined on the podium this time by his teammate Miquél Pons and Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40).
The Brazilian star started the final lap in third place behind the then-leader Pons and Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt IntactGP), but was able to sneak into second position as the Swiss rider ran wide at turn one in an attempt to take the lead back. Granado lined up behind Pons and waited until turn six to make the winning pass, and then managed to stay at the head of the field to cross the finish line 0.214 seconds ahead of the #71 bike.
In what turned out to be a very disappointing final lap, Aegerter’s podium hopes were shattered as a resurging Casadei put together the perfect pass at the final turn to claim the third and final place on the rostrum. The top five was completed by Japan’s Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) who ran as high as third in the early stages of the race before losing touch with the leaders as the laps went by.
Sixth place went to Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE), ahead of reigning, two-time World Cup Champion Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40), who had a far more challenging time at Jerez than expected. Rookie sensation Alex Escrig (Tech 3 E-Racing) wrapped up his debut MotoE round with an eighth place to go with the excellent seventh he racked up yesterday.
The other half of Tech 3 E-Racing, and early leader, Hector Garzó crashed out of the race on lap five, the last of three Spanish riders to hit the ground – as rookies Yeray Ruiz (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) and Marc Alcoba (OpenBank Aspar Team) also failed to make it to the finish line.
MotoE and Energica will return to action in a fortnight’s time (May 13-15) at Le Mans in France.