The second half of the championship begins at the Red Bull Ring

The second half of the championship begins at the Red Bull Ring

At the end of June, we were with Eric Granado, who won his second race of the season at the Assen TT and with Alessandro Zaccone, leader of the MotoE classification with a seven-point advantage over Jordi Torres. So what awaits us in the second half of the season?

Let's start with the leader of the World Cup. Alessandro Zaccone has had an exceptional season so far; so much was negative, and unfortunately, last year, so much was positive this year. Zaccone made his MotoE debut with the Gresini team in 2020, but he injured his knee in the Jerez tests even before the championship started. The most immediate consequence was to give up the first GP and run injured for the first part of the season. However, such a challenging year had shown some of Zaccone's talent, such as the comeback and fifth place in the Emilia Romagna GP at Misano.
The move of the Italian rider to the OCTO Pramac team coincided with a total change in performance by Zaccone, who proved to be one of the fastest riders in the MotoE since the winter tests.

Alessando Zaccone won his first race in MotoE this year in Jerez

His victory in the first race of the season was a surprise more for the way it was achieved rather than for the potential of the Pramac team rider. In Jerez, Zaccone took the lead, keeping behind him until the last corner, Jordi Torres, the winner of the MotoE 2020, and Dominique Aegerter, one of the fastest riders of the category. Such a start to the season could not have been an isolated episode, and in fact, Zaccone showed in the following races (two podiums and a fourth-place out of three races) that he is one of the contenders for the 2021 title. His main chance to win the MotoE title will be at the San Marino GP, on the Misano track, located a few kilometres from his home.

Jordi Torres, winner of the MotoE World Cup 2020

In the overall standings, behind Zaccone, we find Jordi Torres, the most consistent rider of the entire line-up. The 2020 cup winner started this year not to make mistakes and get as many points as possible in the first half of the championship. The rider of the Pons Racing team is now ready to change pace to take the victory he still misses in 2021 and to overtake Zaccone for the final victory. The Misano track is also favourable for Torres, after the excellent performances of the Spanish rider a year ago: one pole position and two podiums in the three races held in 2020 on the Marco Simoncelli circuit.

Eric Granado in his first season with the One Energy Racing team

In the middle of the championship, in third place in the standings, there is Eric Granado. The Brazilian rider is a veteran of the MotoE, one of the four riders to have competed in all editions of the MotoE with Matteo Ferrari, Maria Herrera and Mattia Casadei. The 2021 Eric Granado is very different from the one it debuted in MotoE in 2019. The one of 2019 was a very fast but not consistent rider, who often crashed to stay in front, a rider who ran as if every race lap were a qualifying lap. This year, he is still a fast rider, but he can push the bike to the limit without crashing. This season Granado gained the pole position on each track of the MotoE, he always set the fastest race lap except at Le Mans, and he won two out of four races. His victories could have been three if a technical problem hadn't caused him to start from the pit lane in Barcelona. Even though he is 17 points behind Zaccone, Granado is one of the favourites to win the final, even if his performances at Misano in previous seasons have not been exceptional. His hopes of conquering the MotoE World Cup depend on the result in Austria at the Red Bull Ring.

MotoE World Cup 2021
The overall standings

Dominique Aegerter is fourth in the standings with the same points as Eric Granado but has not yet managed to get on the podium's top step this year. The crash on the first lap in the Assen race weighs heavily on the Swiss's performance. However, the race at the Red Bull Ring, with its strong braking, could be an opportunity for him to bridge the gap from the leaders and get to Misano to fight for the title of the MotoE.
Behind these first four are three riders who have nothing to lose and will play everything in the following races; they are Mattia Casadei, Miquel Pons and the winner of 2019 Matteo Ferrari. Casadei and Ferrari have the advantage of the last round on their home track; Casadei at Misano made his best race in MotoE while Ferrari won four of the five races that have taken place on the Marco Simoncelli circuit so far. Pons brought the first victory to the LCR team in MotoE, and he proved fast on several occasions, but he did not show the necessary consistency to be able to finish on the final podium of the category.

Dominique Aegerter with the MotoE of the Dynavolt Intact GP team

After Matteo Ferrari, the gaps in the standings are such that hardly anyone will be able to recover the points that separate him from the leaders to compete for the podium of the MotoE. Despite this, some of these riders have been very fast from time to time and have shown that they can get excellent results sooner or later, especially Lukas Tulovic, Hikari Okubo, Yonny Hernandez and Fermin Aldeguer.
Once again, the key moment of the race weekend of the MotoE will be the EPole, the qualifying session. The Spielberg circuit is characterized by heavy brakings, especially at turns one, three and four. Therefore, any slight mistake in each of these points means ending up in the green zone beyond the curb and starting the race from the last row.
To be ready for the race of the riders of the MotoE at the Red Bull Ring, we recommend you to read the riding tips on the Austrian track by Alex De Angelis, the former MotoGP rider who raced here with the MotoE of the Octo Pramac team.

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