No one has been able to stop Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) so far at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España and the Brazilian was unbeatable in E-Pole too. Granado set a 1:48.620 on his only flying lap to beat Lukas Tulovic (Tech3 E-Racing) by 0.191, with Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) 0.256 off E-Pole in third.
It's POLE POSITION for Granado! ????@ericgranado pips @3Tulovic in the last sector for POLE! ????#SpanishGP ???????? | #MotoE ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/lz193gZur7
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) July 18, 2020
FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup E-Pole took place in scorching conditions as the riders prepared to make their only lap count. The grid headed out in reverse order to how they finished in Free Practice, with Jakub Kornfeil (WithU Motorsport) the first to put a marker down – a 1:51.012. Faster times were being pumped in all the while, with Alex De Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE) putting in a low 1:49 to lead the way in the early stages.
However, de Angelis wouldn’t keep P1 for long as Alejandro Medina (Openbank Aspar Team) set the first 1:48 of E-Pole to take provisional pole position before Tulovic then took the baton and went to the top of the standings. Two riders who competed in last year’s Cup couldn’t beat the German’s effort, with Xavier Simeon (LCR E-Team) and reigning Cup winner Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) going 0.2 and 0.1 seconds off respectively.
Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) was then looking feisty on his lap and the Italian was setting red sectors, but disaster struck at the fast Turn 11. Canepa lost the front and slid out of contention, smashing his Energica Ego Corsa to pieces which brought out the red flags – unfortunately for Aegerter, who had just gone through the first sector at the rapid rate of knots.
Man on a mission! ????@3Tulovic still holds onto the top spot with just 4 riders to go! ????#SpanishGP ???????? | #MotoE ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/ofqLOHNF5p
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) July 18, 2020
Once the session was restarted, Aegerter was again on a potential pole lap but lost out to Tulovic by 0.065. Then it was down to one rider – Granado. Halfway around the lap, it looked like Tulovic had E-Pole in the bag as Granado was two tenths off, but an outstanding third sector followed which saw Granado pull 0.2 clear. Could the number 51 rider hold his advantage in the final sector? Not all of it, but a good chunk of it – Granado claimed E-Pole by 0.191 to deny Tulovic a debut pole position in the electric class.
If that doesn’t tee you up nicely for the opening MotoE™ race of the 2020 season then we don’t know what will. Can anyone beat Granado on Sunday morning? Find out at 10:05 local time (GMT+2) when the electric class go into battle in Jerez.
Click here for the full results!