The Grand Prix of Jerez, Spain, was the scene of the first weekend of the 2022 season of the MotoE, a category that deploys the technological electric motorcycles from 2019 and arrives this year with a new format.
Brazilian Eric Granado, LCR Team rider, dominated the Spanish circuit at will and took the double by winning the Saturday and Sunday races. Since 2021, the rider has been one of the main favorites in the series, however, occasional mistakes kept him away from the crown in the previous championship.
This season, Granado strengthened his status as the main contender with a victory in Jerez. On Saturday, the rider was among the leading group for most of the race and on the last lap he managed to reach a gap that allowed him to cross the finish line in first place. Dominique Aegerter and Matteo Ferrari also finished on the podium.
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Tech3 E-Racing’s Hector Garzó stayed ahead of the race until turn six/seven, when Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40) took the lead.
From that moment on, this group occupying the podium positions began to open a gap that would become less than a second over fourth place, where Granado was.
With five laps to go, the front trio could not escape from Granado, who was trailing his teammate, Miquel Pons. At the same time, Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE), in fifth place, was able to get very close to Granado and the leading group had five riders in this stage.
With less than three laps to go, the race lead was being disputed between Garzó and Casadei with Granado joining this spectacular fight. On the last corner, but still with three laps to go, Casadei recorded a crash after a dispute with Pons, an incident that was investigated and earned the Spaniard a penalty.
At the front, Granado took the lead to secure and manage a gap of four tenths that earned him the victory.
Granado repeated on Sunday
The second race held in Jerez had practically the same protagonists. With only five laps to go, Aegerter went on the attack to overtake Pons and try to make up ground, but the Spaniard responded forcefully in the Dry Sack braking, while Granado simply waited for his chance to launch the offensive.
After a mistake on the last lap by Aegerter, Granado moved into second and prepared his attack at the right time. The braking at the Dani Pedrosa corner witnessed a spectacular overtake by the Brazilian to take his second consecutive victory. After Saturday’s penalty, Pons was able to finish the race in second place, while Mattia Casadei managed to take third after another mistake by Aegerter in the last corner.
Hikari Okubo; Matteo Ferrari; Jordi Torres; Alex Escrig; Niccolò Canepa; and Kevin Manfredi completed the Top 10 of the second MotoE race in Jerez.
Written by I Jhonattan González
