Eighteen riders from all over the world are preparing to fight for the title of the MotoE World Cup 2021. In Jerez de la Frontera, the first round of the third edition of the MotoGP electric class will take place next weekend.
Fim Enel MotoE World Cup is the new electric class of the MotoGP Championship; an additional motorcycle category compared to the already established MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 classes. The competition kicked off for the first time in 2019, on July 7th, at the German GP. This year, the MotoGP electric class riders compete in 7 races on 6 European circuits. The first stage is on the Jerez de la Frontera track with a race on May 2nd. The conclusion of the MotoE 2021 is in Italy, in Misano, for a double race on 18 and 19 September, for the SanMarinoGP. The dates are the same in which the races of the other classes of the world championship take place (MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3). (Here the MotoE 2021 calendar )
On Friday there are two free practice sessions, on Saturday the third free session and qualifying in superpole style, while on Sunday the race is scheduled between the MotoGP warm-up and the Moto3 race. The last stage is an exception in which two races are held, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. (Here the data of the circuits of the MotoE 2021)
The winner of the 2020 edition Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) is part of the eighteen riders who will compete in the third season of the MotoE World Cup. The winner of the 2019 edition will also be present as well as runner-up in 2020 Matteo Ferrari (Gresini MotoE), and last year's third overall Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP). There are also some interesting movements of experienced riders to record, such as Eric Granado who moves to the One Energy Racing team to aim for the title of the category and Alessandro Zaccone who will be in the Octo Pramac team this year MotoE.
Confirmed in the grid of the MotoE, Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse), Lukas Tulovic (Tech3 E-Racing), Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) and Xavier Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing).
Among the rookies we point out Yonni Hernandez who returns to the Pramac team with whom he raced in MotoGP, and Hikari Okubo, Japanese, first Asian rider in the electric class (Avant Ajo MotoE team).
Miquel Pons and Kevin Zannoni are the LCR E-Team riders, Fermin Aldeguer is Maria Herrera's teammate at the Openbank Aspar, Andrea Mantovani is Ferrari's partner in the Gresini MotoE team, Corentin Perolari joins Tulovic at the Tech3 E-Racing while the Portuguese rider Andre Pires is the Avintia Esponsorama Racing teammate of Cardelus.
Last season's winner Pons Racing 40 team will line-up two Energica Ego Corsa this year; Jordi Torres' teammate is Dutchman Jasper Iwema.
In the pre-season tests on the Jerez track, the riders who recorded the best performances were Eric Granado and Dominique Aegerter. The former lowered the track record by half a second, while the latter dominated the race simulation by finishing first with a ten-second advantage over the runner-up, Fermin Aldeguer. The young Spanish rookie of the Openbank Aspar team (sixteen years old), in addition to the second place in the race simulation, also impressed for the performance in each session, achieving fifth place in the combined standings. In the Angel Nieto circuit tests, the other Spanish rookie, Miquel Pons also impressed with the third position in the race simulation.
Among the favourites to the final victory, the winner of the 2020 champion, Jordi Torres, kept himself hidden in the official tests to work on the race pace. It is also worth attention to Alessandro Zaccone, fourth in the tests, who is aiming to redeem the last season, which was negatively affected by injuries. After a positive start, the winner of the 2019 edition, Matteo Ferrari, had difficulties finding the right balance for the new front fork, but this will not prevent him from being among the protagonists of this edition of the MotoE World Cup as well.
After the fifth place in the last season, among the protagonists of the category, there will certainly be Mattia Casadei, eager to win the first race after the podiums obtained last year. Among the riders who will surely fight to gain their first podium in the category, there are Xavi Cardelus, Lukas Tulovic and Maria Herrera, respectively third, eighth and thirteenth in the combined test standings.
The bike available to the riders is the Ego Corsa (this is the technical sheet), produced by Energica Motor Company, an Italian company that has been selected as a sole supplier for four years.
EnelX is the championship's main sponsor and the supplier of the mobile charging systems for the motorbikes. In addition to EnelX, the other championship partners are DHL, Michelin and Allianz. You can discover the other technical partners , here.
This year, the main technical innovations will concern the Michelin tyres, in particular the asymmetrical rear one, the Öhlins FKR front fork and the charging systems 2.0 supplied by EnelX. All the details are available at the link in this post. At the links in this post you will find the details of each of them.
We asked Nicolas Goubert, Executive Director of MotoE World Cup, for feedback on the new components that were tested during the official tests. Regarding the tyres, Goubert explained that in the first test, a new front tyre and two different options for the rear with asymmetrical compounds were tested, both made with a higher percentage of recycled and eco-sustainable materials than the previous version. Goubert added that the tyres will also have a quicker warm-up.
Technology
Michelin tyres 2021
Regarding the suspensions, for 2021, the Ego Corsas are fitted with a new pressurized cartridge, the FKR model, supplied by Öhlins through Andreani Group, Öhlins' representative in Italy. This cartridge has been specially developed for the racing purpose and is currently used in the WSSP Supersport World Championship, in many national superbike championships and, with minimal modifications, in the WSBK Superbike World Championship.
In each race, the riders can choose at any time which components to use, whether the previous ones or the new ones.
Technology
Öhlins suspensions for 2021
For the charging stations, new generation ones with an integrated 50kWh battery will be used this year. This 'buffer' battery is constantly recharged from the circuit's electrical network and then it quickly transfers the energy to the motorcycle battery during rapid recharging (from 20 to 30 minutes). In addition to the fixed charging station, a Mobile Unit has also been designed. The Mobile Unit is used to recharge the batteriy of the bike on the starting grid after the sighting lap, allowing to have the energy necessary to extend the range of the bike by one lap and consequently, the race distance.
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