The MotoE is in the second part of the 2024 season and has completed the sixth round at the Sachsenring. Hector Garzò won both races on the German circuit and took the lead in the general classification ahead of Mattia Casadei and Oscar Gutierrez.
The analysis of the German GP of MotoE 2024 at the Sachsenring – The German Sachsenring track is a kart track, with barely a straight and bikes leaning to the left most of the time. Theoretically, it should not be a track where you see good racing, overtaking, or comebacks. Instead, from MotoGP to MotoE, the races at the German GP were gripping, hard-fought, and full of surprises. We analysed the two MotoE races at Sachsenring; here is what emerged.
1 – We start, of course, with the dominator of the MotoE weekend at Sachsering: Hector Garzò. The Dynavolt Intact GP team rider was the absolute star of the German round. Only in qualifying did Garzò give up a few positions to his rivals, finishing fourth behind Alessandro Zaccone, Oscar Gutierrez and Nicholas Spinelli. On the other hand, Garzò gave no space to the other riders in the race, winning two races that could not have been more different. The first occurred in sunshine and a dry track, the second in rain and wind. None of these conditions made it difficult for Garzò, who took the win in both races, led all but the first lap of Race 1 and set the fastest lap in both dry and wet conditions. With the 50 points obtained at the Sachsenring, Garzò is deservedly the new leader of the overall standings and can cherish the dream of winning that MotoE title that eluded him in Valencia in 2019.
2 – Among the German MotoE GP's positive notes were the Tech3 team riders, Alessandro Zaccone and Nicholas Spinelli. Zaccone has now become the rider to beat in Friday qualifying, taking pole position in the last three MotoE rounds: Mugello, Assen and, indeed, Sachsenring. In the race, Zaccone achieved second and fifth place, which brought him closer to the leading positions in the classification. This further increases the regret for the 20 points lost due to the disqualification at Assen, points with which Zaccone would be third, just behind Mattia Casadei. In this championship, Zaccone is showing steady growth race after race, a performance that could take him to the final MotoE podium for the first time.
3 – Nicholas Spinelli was also back in good form at the Sachsenring. The No. 29 rider started from the front row with the third-fastest time in qualifying and took third and second place in the two German races. At Sachsering we saw Spinelli again close to the levels of the beginning of the season, when he won three of the first four races. The level is still not there, but in Germany the Tech2024 team rider took an important step towards full recovery after his injury in Barcelona. The conditions of Race 3 seemed perfect to see Spinelli return to victory but, at Sachsering, Garzò had a pace unattainable for everyone.
4 – In Germany, Oscar Gutierrez did everything. From memory, we cannot recall any driver in any category who has been given four Long Lap Penalties. The first two were decided due to the collision with Eric Granado, the other two for the conspicuous early start. The situation was almost grotesque, and the first Long Lap Penalty crash was consistent with Gutierrez's Race 1 madness. There would have been plenty to turn off the bike and go home, but instead, the Axxis-Msi team rider regained his grit, determination and poise and drove an excellent second race in the rain. A fourth place is worth a podium for the conditions in which it matured.
5 – The underwhelming moment continues for Mattia Casadei. The reigning MotoE champion did not shine even in Germany, obtaining two ninth places. In the last eight races, except for the excellent round at Mugello, Casadei's best result was a sixth place. After the first two rounds, in Portugal and France, we saw a drop in Casadei's performance in MotoE and the Moto2 European Championship. In a category like MotoE, characterised by extremely small gaps, it takes little to go from podium to tenth place. To make-up the 25-point gap to Garzò and hold on to the MotoE title, Casadei still has four races left at two friendly tracks: the Red Bull Ring and Misano.
6 – Our analysis of the German GP MotoE sees Jordi Torres at the sixth point, having achieved the first real podium of the season at the Sachsenring. The adjective real comes from the fact that, according to the statistics, this is the second podium of 2024, but the first had come in Holland after the penalty to Zaccone. It had, therefore, been a third place without the podium party, the flag and the sparkling wine. The one in Germany, on the other hand, was a real podium with all the appropriate celebrations. The absence of long straights made Sachsenring the most favourable track on the calendar for the Spaniard. Torres has said on several occasions that this year he lacks speed on the straights and that in several cases he is slower than last year. Not a good premise ahead of the Austrian round at the Red Bull Ring, while a new podium opportunity could be Misano, a track on which Torres has always achieved good results.
7 – In Germany, we saw Matteo Ferrari back in the top areas of the classification. The Team Gresini rider scored a fourth and a sixth place, thus completing his best weekend of the season. Ferrari is slowly but steadily growing and it is not excluded that he could finally return to the podium at Misano, the track that has seen him win six times.
8 – At the Sachsenring, when an air fence meets a MotoE, the air fence is doomed. The first time was in 2019, when Lorenzo Savadori's Energica Ego Corsa hit the guards, damaging them. The consequence was that the first race in MotoE history was red-flagged and victory went to Finland's Niki Tuuli, ahead of Bradley Smith and Mike Di Meglio. The latest episode was on Friday, when Kevin Manfredi threw the Ducati V21L of the Sic58 Squadra Corse into an air fence, again damaging protection and interrupting the session. In defence of the air fences, we can say that their damage is due to the bikes impacting at high speed due to the narrow escape routes between turns 10 and 12.
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MotoE World Championship
The standings of the MotoE 2024
Photos: MotoGP
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