Forza Ferrari: Italian wins dramatic Race 1

Home rider Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) claimed a magnificent maiden FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup victory after a hugely dramatic Race 1 at the GP Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. The Italian held off second-place Hector Garzo (Tech 3 E-Racing) and third place Xavier Simeon (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) on the final lap to take the Cup standings lead.

Polesitter Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE) got the holeshot he would have been looking for as Ferrari and Simeon slotted in behind the race leader on the opening lap. After crashing in E-Pole, Cup leader Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) made a good start from the back of the grid to get up to P14, but his Energica Ego Corsa ran into issues on Lap 1 – the first piece of drama, and a big one for the overall standings.

Di Meglio got going again but his race ended on Lap 2 after further bike trouble, and at Turn 6 on Lap 2 – the second piece of drama. Niki Tuuli (Ajo MotoE) was up the inside of Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse) but with the door closing, the Finnish rider crashed and took Casadei with him, with Casadei then collecting the luckless Bradley Smith (One Energy Racing) as the man second in the Cup crashed. The British rider was able to get going again, albeit at the back of the pack.

With leading contenders either out or scoring little points, the fight was on at the front to not only claim victory, but to stake a claim in the overall standings. The dust settled and it was de Angelis still leading the way from Simeon and Ferrari, with Garzo getting passed by Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) before the Brazilian then crashed at Turn 14, having made a sensational start from P16.

What more could happen? Well, something was about to. De Angelis had slipped to P3 and with four laps to go, the Sammarinese rider highsided out of contention on the exit of Turn 5 – rider ok. This left a three-way fight at the front between Ferrari – who was now your race leader – Simeon and Garzo. Nothing split the trio in the latter stages and heading onto the last lap, 0.3 covered them. However, Ferrari rode a blinder to hold off the competition, with Garzo ducking under Simeon at the fast Turn 11. An electric powered Ferrari was unstoppable though as he took victory – and the Cup standings lead.

0.5 would split the podium as Garzo beat Simeon on the last lap, with Jesko Raffin (Dynavolt Intact GP) 3.1 off the win in P4 to pick up his best MotoE™ result. LCR E-Team’s Niccolo Canepa was battling Raffin to the flag to also claim his best finish of the season.

After that breathless race, Ferrari leads Simeon in the standings by two points, with the top duo, Di Meglio and Smith covered by just nine points. The best part? We get to watch another MotoE™ race on Sunday – tune in for Race 2 at 10:05 local time (GMT+2).

Top 10:
1. Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE)
2. Hector Garzo (Tech 3 E-Racing) + 0.187
3. Xavier Simeon (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) + 0.590
4. Jesko Raffin (Dynavolt Intact GP) + 3.111
5. Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) + 3.284
6. Maria Herrera (OpenBank Angel Nieto Team) + 6.516
7. Lorenzo Savadori (Trentino Gresini MotoE) + 6.883
8. Nico Terol (OpenBank Angel Nieto Team) + 7.276
9. Sete Gibernau (Join Contract Pons 40) + 14.576
10. Josh Hook (Octo Pramac MotoE) + 15.568

Click here for the full results!