GP of France of the MotoE - Aegerter wins race 2 at Le Mans ahead of Casadei and Canepa. On the Le Mans circuit, the Swiss rider is back to victory in MotoE after more than a year and gains the top of the MotoE standings. For Canepa it is the first podium in MotoE.
On the Le Mans circuit, Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) won the second race of the French GP of the MotoE World Cup 2022. The Swiss driver reached the finish line first followed by Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40) and Niccolò Canepa (WithU GRT RNF MotoE). Aegerter returns to victory in MotoE after after over a year. New podium for Mattia Casadei who leads most of the race but has to give first place to Aegerter on the last lap. First podium in MotoE for Niccolò Canepa who overtakes Kevin Zannoni at the last corner.
At the start the fastest is Casadei who takes the lead followed by Zannoni, Aegerter, Okubo, Ferrari and Cardelus. This time everything is fine in the first chicane where Torres crashed yesterday. Thanks to the perfect start, Casadei gains immediately a few tenths of an advantage over his pursuers. Granado meanwhile is in eighth position while Garzò is twelfth and Pons thirteenth.
At the start of the second lap Casadei has 7 tenths of an advantage over Zannoni. Aegerter sees Casadei gaining meters so he decides to quickly pass Okubo and chase the leader of the race. Between him and Casadei there is Zannoni who at the end of the second lap is already 1 second behind Casadei. In the meantime, Granado overtakes Canepa and follows the duo formed by Ferrari and Cardelus.
In the third lap Aegerter immediately passes Zannoni at the first chicane; the hunt for Casadei for victory is on. The gap of the Swiss from the leader of the race is 1 second. In the meantime, Granado continues his comeback, passing Cardelus at turn 8.
The fourth lap opens with Granado also passing Ferrari. Canepa, after being passed by Granado, got in his wake, thus starting a comeback following the overtaking of the Brazilian. Granado, after passing the rider of the FELO Gresini MotoE team launches in pursuit of Zannoni and Okubo to get on the third step of the podium. In the lead, in the meantime, Aegerter's gap from Casadei drops to 7 tenths.
With four laps to go, Canepa passes Ferrari at the first chicane and follows Granado in the fight for third place. Meanwhile Aegerter has gained again on Casadei and now the gap between the two is less than 4 tenths. At turn 8, Granado passes Okubo, now there is only Zannoni between him and the podium. Okubo tries to resist the overtaking of the Brazilian rider but goes wide and is also passed by Canepa.
Three laps from the end of the race Casadei and Aegerter are joined; a second behind them is a group of five riders fighting for the third step of the podium: Zannoni, Granado, Canepa, Okubo and Ferrari.
Of these, Canepa seems to be the fastest as he attacks and overtakes Granado at the corner of turn 3.
The race pace is slower than yesterday, probably due to the higher temperature.
There are two laps left at the end of the race. Ahead Aegerter tries in the challeange in which Zannoni failed yesterday. The Swiss rider makes a full lap behind Casadei to study him without ever attempting to overtake. Aegerter is 1.3 seconds ahead of third so he knows he is not in danger of being attacked while he studies where to launch the attack on Casadei.
At turn 7 Granado overtakes Canepa who overtakes him at 8 and resists the new attack by the Brazilian at turn 9.
The last lap begins and Aegerter immediately breaks the hesitation: he flanks Casadei in turn 2 and overtakes him in the braking at the inlet of the first chicane. Casadei studies the counter overtaking but the Swiss closes the line well and stays in front. Behind them there is a fight for the first podium in MotoE between Zannoni and Canepa.
Casadei tries to keep pace with Aegerter to attack him in the final but makes a small mistake at the chicane of turns 9 and 10 and loses ground compared to the leader of the race.
Aegerter arrives at the last corner with a sufficient advantage to be safe from an attack by Casadei and passes first under the checkered flag. Aegerter thus i back to victory in MotoE after over a year. For Casadei it is the ninth podium in MotoE. Behind them is a heated fight between Zannoni and Canepa. The latter attacks Zannoni at the inlet of the last corner; the two arrive side by side at the finish line but it is Canepa who wins third place by a few thousandths. Fifth behind them Granado who loses the leadership of the championship. Now in the standings the first is Aegerter with 78 points ahead of Granado with 70, Casadei is at 61 while in fourth place Ferrari has 48 points.
| POS. | N. | Nat. | Rider | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 |  |
Dominique AEGERTER | Dynavolt Intact GP | 13,56.252 | |
| 2 | 27 |  |
Mattia CASADEI | Pons Racing 40 | 13,56.819 | 0,567 |
| 3 | 7 | |
Niccolo CANEPA | WithU GRT RNF MotoE Team | 13,57.940 | 1,688 |
| 4 | 21 | |
Kevin ZANNONI | Ongetta Sic58 Squadra Corse | 13,57.948 | 1,696 |
| 5 | 51 |  |
Eric GRANADO | LCR E-Team | 13,58.083 | 1,831 |
| 6 | 78 |  |
Hikari OKUBO | Avant Ajo MotoE | 13,58.433 | 2,181 |
| 7 | 11 | |
Matteo FERRARI | FELO Gresini MotoE | 13,58.549 | 2,297 |
| 8 | 4 |  |
Hector GARZO | Tech3 E-Racing | 13,59.218 | 2,966 |
| 9 | 70 | |
Marc ALCOBA | Zinia Aspar Team | 14,00.213 | 3,961 |
| 10 | 71 | |
Miquel PONS | LCR E-Team | 14,00.462 | 4,210 |
| 11 | 9 | |
Andrea MANTOVANI | WithU GRT RNF MotoE Team | 14,00.671 | 4,419 |
| 12 | 17 | |
Alex ESCRIG | Tech 3 E-racing | 14,01.163 | 4,911 |
| 13 | 12 | |
Xavi FORES | OCTO Pramac MotoE | 14,02.410 | 6,158 |
| 14 | 18 |  |
Xavier CARDELUS | Avintia Esponsorama Team | 14,03.139 | 6,887 |
| 15 | 6 | |
Maria HERRERA | Zinia Aspar Team | 14,06.054 | 9,802 |
| 16 | 34 | |
Kevin MANFREDI | OCTO PRAMAC MotoE | 14,06.548 | 10,296 |
| 17 | 72 | |
Alessio FINELLO | FELO Gresini MotoE | 14,15.708 | 19,456 |
The next round of the MotoE World Cup is in two weeks on the Italian Mugello track for the Italian GP.
Photos: motogp.com and Michelin Motorsport
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