Nicholas Spinelli takes his first victory of 2024 in the opening race of the MotoE in Portimao. An unlucky Saturday for Alessandro Zaccone after an excellent Friday.
The MotoE races in Portugal of the riders of the Tech3 E-Racing team – The first round of the 2024 MotoE World Championship took place in Portimao, during the Portuguese GP. Things started perfectly on Saturday morning for the Tech3 E-Racing team: the new rider, Nicholas Spinelli took the first victory of 2024 after a thrilling battle with Casadei and Garzò. Unfortunately, the afternoon didn't go the same way; the Italian rider crashed while leading Race 2 and had to retire. The other Tech3 team rider, Alessandro Zaccone, had made a good start in Race 1, but made a mistake when braking at turn 5, which also involved Jordi Torres. The accident cost the Italian rider a long lap penalty for the afternoon race, in which Zaccone could not do better than twelfth position. Here's what the two Tech3 riders and Hervè Poncharal, the team's team principal, said after the MotoE races in Portugal.
Nicholas Spinelli (Tech3 E-Racing)
“I am happy that we took our first win in the first race. It is really important to start the championship with a victory, but I obviously feel bad for the afternoon’s race. I made a mistake at the start, which is a shame. When I saw the double long lap penalty, I tried to push a lot to make the gap, but that was too much and I crashed. It was unfortunate, but it is racing. Anyway, we have been competitive all weekend, I am feeling really well with both the bike and the team, we worked well, so we will now focus on the next round in Le Mans."
Alessandro Zaccone (Tech3 E-Racing)
“I am really sad about race 1, because I was really fast. The grip was not great, so it was difficult to overtake, but I tried as I wanted to fight for the podium. Jordi Torres overtook me. In turn 5, I was really close to him, he braked late which I did not expect, and I crashed and took him down. I want to apologise to him of course, but I consider that it was a race incident, and the long lap penalty is harsh. This destroyed our hopes in race 2, so we finished too far. The only positive thing of the weekend is that we were finally able to be fast quickly into the weekend, I feel much better than last season on the bike, so let’s take these positives to the next round in Le Mans!"
Herve Poncharal (Tech3 E-Racing Team Principal)
“Mixed feelings in MotoE today for Tech3 E-Racing! Alessandro Zaccone did not finish race 1 due to an unfortunate crash, but Nicholas Spinelli gave us the present he could on his first race with us, as he took the victory. We were over the moon, because it was the perfect way to start the new season. Later on, we found out that Alessandro was handed a long lap penalty, which in MotoE is a race killer, because there are only eight laps. Unfortunately, things got worse for us as the day went by! Nicholas’ front wheel touched the white line on the grid at race 2 start, so he got a double long lap penalty. Although he was leading the race at that time, he tried to push even more to make a break big enough to overcome the penalty, but that was mission impossible, and he crashed, pushing too hard. Alessandro could not do much with a long lap penalty and finished 12th. We know we are fast with both riders, we can fight for victories, maybe the championship, but for this, we need to finish races and avoid big mistakes. Let’s see the glass half full, we have a great lineup of riders, a great team, and a fast Motul Ducati, so we are looking forward to the next round in Le Mans."
MotoE World Championship
The standings of the MotoE 2024
MotoE World Championship
The results of the 2024 Portuguese GP
Photos: MotoGP & Tech3 E-Racing
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