Aegerter wins the MotoE™ World Cup after Granado crash

Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™) has won the 2022 FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup title after he finished second and Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) crashed in Race 1 at the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40) took victory on the day at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli but Aegerter claimed the biggest prize. His result gave him an unassailable 37.5-point lead with one race to go this season after Granado was unable to score despite remounting and making it to the finish.

Granado gets the jump but Aegerter keeps up the pressure

It had started so well for Granado, the only other rider still in contention for the Cup when the weekend began, who qualified on Row 2 but was quickly into the race lead. He had moved up to third position as the field threaded its way through the opening corners, then sliced past Aegerter for second place at Turn 2 on Lap 2. A lap later, the Brazilian hit the front when Casadei had a wobble between Turns 2 and 3.

However, Aegerter was not going to let him get away. The Swiss rider went down the inside of Casadei at Turn 4 and then had a look at Granado when they arrived at Tramonto (Turn 10). Granado got away with a slight moment at Carro (Turn 14), but lost the lead when he was overtaken by Aegerter on Lap 4 at Tramonto.

The title is decided

Even then, the World Cup would have still been alive heading into the final day of the season if the race had ended that way, given Aegerter would only have moved to a 22.5-point lead – a difficult scneario, but achievable. That was before Granado went down a few corners later at Carro, and his hopes were all but dashed in an instant – his title rival had one hand on the trophy.

Granado remounted but, assuming he could not get back into the points-paying positions, Aegerter needed to finish only eighth to wrap up the title. He continued to hold first position all the way until the run down to the Quercia corner (Turn 8) on the penultimate of eight laps, when Casadei made a move. The Italian went on to win the race but it was Aegerter who had the biggest reason to smile as he took the chequered flag in second position.

How the rest of the top 10 finished

Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE™) and Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) had been part of the leading group for most of the contest and they would finish third and fourth respectively after the former made the pass on the latter on Lap 7 at Carro. Alex Escrig (Tech3 E-Racing) got home in fifth, ahead of Niccolo Canepa (WithU GRT RNF MotoE™ Team), Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE™), Kevin Manfredi (Octo Pramac MotoE™), Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing), and Hector Garzo (Tech3 E-Racing). On a tough day for LCR, Granado was classified 17th while Pons was the only non-finisher.

Aegerter is now an FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup Winner after coming so close last year in a dramatic finale. Now, just one day remains in the 2022 season, and it will be a particularly special one as we farewell the Energica Ego Corsa which has served the category so well for its first four, exhilarating years. Watch the end of an era when lights go out for Race 2 at Misano from 15:30 (GMT +2)!

MotoE™ Race 1 Top 10:

1. Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40)
2. Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) + 0.134
3. Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE) + 0.188
4. Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) + 0.288
5. Alex Escrig (Tech 3 E-Racing) + 5.086
6. Niccolo Canepa (Withu GRT RNF MotoE Team) + 5.196
7. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) + 5.534
8. Kevin Manfredi (OCTO Pramac MotoE) + 6.904
9. Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) + 6.992
10. Hector Garzo (Tech 3 E-Racing) + 7.158

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