Austrian GP of the MotoE - Eric Granado wins race 1 at the Red Bull Ring ahead of Dominique Aegerter and Miquel Pons. On the Austrian circuit, the Brazilian rider gets his fourth win of the season in MotoE and recovers points in the overall standings for the fight for the title.
On the Red Bull Ring circuit, Eric Granado (LCR E-team) won race 1 of the Austrian GP of the MotoE World Cup 2022. The Brazilian rider reached the finish line first followed by Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Miquel Pons (LCR E-team). Granado thus obtained his fourth win of the season in MotoE.
The race was originally scheduled for a distance of six laps but was extended to seven after checking the residual energy of the batteries after the free sessions.
At the start, Casadei takes the lead of the group starting from pole position. At the braking of turn 1, Zannoni passes inside Granado and takes second position ahead of the Brazilian rider and Aegerter. At the exit of turn 1, Matteo Ferrari loses grip on the rear and ends on the ground, with Canepa in danger of hitting him. The Italian rider of the FELO Gresini MotoE team gets up and re-joins the race in sixteenth position.
After tackling the new chicane, Casadei leads the race followed by Zannoni, Granado and Aegeter. At the back of the group, coming out of the chicane, Bradley Smith also falls, losing grip at the rear, and has to retire. Something doesn't have to work well with the Michelin rear in the first lap because, in addition to Ferrari and Smith, Miquel Pons and Dominique Aegerter also have a sudden loss of grip on the rear but they are able to control the bike and continue the race losing a few positions.
The second lap begins with Casadei gaining meters over Zannoni and Granado. The Brazilian, on the straight of the finish line, joins the Sic58 team rider and overtakes him at turn 1. Granado thus conquers the second position, 1 second behind Casadei. Behind them, the leader of the World Championship, Aegerter, regained the fourth position and set off on the hunt for Zannoni.
In one lap the Swiss rider manages to close the gap that separated him from Zannoni and gets in the slipstream of the Italian. Behind them is fight between Cardelus and Pons. The LCR E-Team rider tries to overtake under braking at turn 4 but Cardelus resists and manages to maintain his position, but two corners later he makes a mistake and goes off the track leaving fifth place for Pons.
In front Granado runs very fast and reduces the gap on Casadei sector after sector while behind them, after a study lap, Aegerter attacks and passes Zannoni at turn 1.
We are halfway through the race with Casadei first with a 0,5 second lead over Granado who precedes Aegerter by 1,7 seconds. Immediately in the slipstream of the Swiss are Zannoni, Pons, Okubo, Garzò, Escrig, Torres, and Manfredi.
Three laps to go, Granado closed the gap from Casadei but cannot attack him due to the yellow flags in the second sector due to Niccolò Canepa's bike stopped on the track. Granado has to wait for turn 5 to attack Casadei but the Italian responds decisively to overtaking and two turns later gets back to the top of the race. Behind, meanwhile, Aegerter's gap increases to 1,9 sec.
On the straight of the finish line, Granado attacks Casadei again and overtakes him during the braking of turn 1. The Brazilian, however, goes wide, leaving space for Casadei to recover the lead. From this moment on, Casadei began to gain tenths sector after sector, distancing the rider of the LCR team.
Thanks to Granado's mistake, Aegerter reduces his gap from second position to 1 second. One lap from the end we find Casadei, with half a second on Granado followed by Aegerter, Pons, Okubo, Garzò, Zannoni, Escrig, Torres and Fores.
The race seems destined to end like this, with the advantage of Casadei growing curve after curve and Granado managing the second place to recover points in the general classification, when, with two corners to go, Casadei crashes and gives Granado the second victory of the season. in MotoE. The rider of the Pons Racing 40 team is forced to retire after being in the lead throughout the race.
Together with Granado, Dominique Aegerter (2nd) and Miquel Pons (3rd) get on the podium. In the general classification Granado recovers five points over Aegerter to 26.5 points behind the Swiss rider.
Tomorrow at 15:30 the start of Race 2 with the same starting grid.
The results of Race 1 of the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring
| POS. | N. | Nat. | Rider | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 51 |  |
Eric GRANADO | LCR E-Team | 11,55.313 | |
| 2 | 77 |  |
Dominique AEGERTER | Dynavolt Intact GP | 11,56.584 | 1,271 |
| 3 | 71 |  |
Miquel PONS | LCR E-Team | 11,57.110 | 1,797 |
| 4 | 78 |  |
Hikari OKUBO | Avant Ajo MotoE | 11,58.682 | 3,369 |
| 5 | 4 | |
Hector GARZO | Tech3 E-Racing | 11,58.902 | 3,589 |
| 6 | 17 | |
Alex ESCRIG | Tech 3 E-racing | 11,58.932 | 3,619 |
| 7 | 21 |  |
Kevin ZANNONI | Ongetta Sic58 Squadra Corse | 11,59.217 | 3,904 |
| 8 | 40 | |
Jordi TORRES | Pons Racing 40 | 11,59.947 | 4,634 |
| 9 | 12 | |
Xavi FORES | OCTO Pramac MotoE | 12,07.058 | 11,745 |
| 10 | 34 | |
Kevin MANFREDI | OCTO PRAMAC MotoE | 12,07.224 | 11,911 |
| 11 | 6 | |
Maria HERRERA | Zinia Aspar Team | 12,09.424 | 14,111 |
| 12 | 70 | |
Marc ALCOBA | Zinia Aspar Team | 12,09.558 | 14,245 |
| 13 | 18 |  |
Xavier CARDELUS | Avintia Esponsorama Team | 12,12.201 | 16,888 |
| 14 | 11 | |
Matteo FERRARI | FELO Gresini MotoE | 12,33.935 | 38,622 |
| NC | 27 | |
Mattia CASADEI | Pons Racing 40 | nd | 0,000 |
| NC | 7 | |
Niccolo CANEPA | WithU GRT RNF MotoE Team | nd | 0,000 |
| NC | 38 |  |
Bradley SMITH | WithU GRT RNF MotoE Team | nd | 0,000 |
Photos: motogp.com
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