Matteo Ferrari is preparing to start his third season in the MotoE World Cup, the electric class of MotoGP. In the first edition, in 2019, the rider from Rimini won the title ahead of Bradley Smith and Eric Granado, while last year he finished second in the standings, behind Jordi Torres and ahead of Dominique Aegerter. This year the Indonesian E-Racing Gresini team rider will be aiming to regain the class title, strong also in the double final round of the championship at his home track, Misano.
We asked Matteo Ferrari to explain how the first MotoE test of the season went; the event took place a few days ago at the Angel Nieto circuit at Jerez de la Frontera.
The Italian rider had to carry out special training sessions to arrive in perfect physical condition due to the shoulder operation he underwent in November and recover from the twenty-day stop due to the Covid-19 he had in January. At Jerez, Ferrari was at 100% to test in deep the performance of MotoE 2021 and, as he says, to have no alibi in case he couldn't achieve the results he had set himself.
“The tests went very well; we tried several things. We tested some evolutions, but the track time is always limited (about ten laps per session - ed), so you need to be always careful and concentrated. Also, the time available to review the data is limited because the sessions are now very close together".
In the first season of MotoE, the times between sessions were longer due to the limitations of the electrical grid at some circuits, where it was not possible to recharge all eighteen Ego Corsa bikes at the same time. This limitation has been overcome thanks to the introduction of the 2.0 charging stations by EnelX, used for the first time in the Jerez test, and the battery cooling system, which was introduced last year by Energica.
Ferrari also said: “We managed to try everything, even the two types of tyre brought by Michelin. I liked both new specs; they have very similar characteristics; I don't prefer one to the other. The important thing is to have a good warm-up for the races when the temperature is lower, like at Le Mans, usually colder. For the lap-time, I would say we are close to the limit; of course, we can do a bit better, but it is a matter of tenths, not seconds as it was last year.”
MotoE 2021
The new Michelin Slick MotoE tyres
Ferrari started the test with the new FKR fork; then, due to a crash, he completed the first day with one of the replacement bikes that Energica brings to each event, on which the old 2020 fork was mounted. From the second day, he returned to ride with the new fork, evaluating its characteristics.
“The new fork (Ohlins FKR) was also a step forward, but you need to adapt to the new behaviour. I would say that the fork and tyres are two good steps forward, but they don’t deeply transform the bike, so I expect the performance to be better than last year, but not too much".
On the morning of the third day, the Indonesian E-Racing Gresini rider did a race simulation described as “very satisfying”. The test ended with Ferrari in third place in the overall standings, 647 thousandths behind Eric Granado, although Ferrari did not perform an E-pole simulation with new tyres on the final day of testing.
The next event is the second session of tests, from April 12th to 14th, again at Jerez, to make the last performance step, the most difficult one, before the first race of the season on May 2nd.
Championship
The calendar of the MotoE World Cup 2021
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