Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) claimed his third Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli victory in two years in yet another dramatic FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup encounter. Completing the podium in Race 2 at the Gran Premio TISSOT dell'Emilia Romagna e della Riviera di Rimini was Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) and Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) as former World Cup leader Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) is taken out on Lap 2.
Polesitter Aegerter got the holeshot into Turn 1 with Ferrari slotting into P2 behind is World Cup rival. The latter made a move into the lead on the opening lap though down into Turn 8 – and led over the line. Tommaso Marcon (Tech3 E-Racing) had made a good start and sat third, but Casadei dived up the inside at Turn 1 on Lap 2. Then, trying not to lose the final podium position, Marcon broke late into Turn 2 – but it was too late. And in the firing line was second place Aegerter, the Swiss rider could do nothing as Marcon slammed into the number 77’s rear tyre as both riders went down at Turn 2 – both were ok, with Aegerter managing to remount.
The incident left Ferrari with a comfortable half-second advantage up front, with Casadei and Torres chasing the Italian. The gap between Ferrari and the Casadei-Torres battle was kept at around half a second, with Torres unable to make a pass stick on Casadei. The Italian and Spaniard then swapped positions at Turn 4 as Casadei ran wide, allowing Torres through. However, Torres was then really wide at Turn 10, which allowed Casadei to then reclaim P2 but the chopping and changing between P2 and P3 allowed Ferrari to stretch his lead to over a second.
Heading onto the last lap, Ferrari had the win in the bag – but second and third were yet to be decided. Torres was hounding Casadei but the latter was supreme on the brakes into all the passing opportunities. Having a good run down the back straight through the fast Turns 11 and 12, Torres got his rear tyre smoking through Turn 13 and looked like he was going to make a late lunge into Turn 14. However, again, Casadei was simply brilliant on the brakes which gave Torres no chance of making a pass stick. 1.3 seconds up the road, Ferrari took the chequered flag in P1 to stand on the top step of the podium – and take charge of the MotoE™ World Cup.
Casadei rode an awesome race to keep Torres behind him to the line, the duo both happy with podiums at Misano as Torres picks up a P2 and P3 to keep himself right in the title fight. Casadei goes 4th and 2nd at the Emilia Romagna GP to sit just 15 points off Ferrari heading into the final two races of the year at Le Mans.
One for the collection! ????@FerrariMatteo11 on top of the box ????#MotoE | #EmiliaRomagnaGP ???? pic.twitter.com/jShlMW8l8B
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) September 20, 2020
Fourth place went the way of Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) who picks up his best result of the season, rookie Alessandro Zaccone (Trentino Gresini MotoE) claims P5 in Race 2 – his best result of 2020. After his Race 1 crash at Turn 16, Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was able to pick up a solid P6, 0.051 ahead of Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing). The Brazilian started from the back of the grid after his Race 1 crash with Xavier Simeon (LCR E-Team), Granado stringing together a solid race to finish P7 – but he’s now 43 points adrift of Ferrari.
Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE) also crashed in Race 1, the Sammarinese rider happy to claim a P8 finish at his home race, with Alejandro Medina (Openbank Aspar Team) being forced to drop one position to P9 after exceeding track limits on the last lap. P10 went the way of Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing).
Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) finished P11 as 12th place Niki Tuuli (Avant Ajo MotoE) was given a three-second penalty for exceeding track limits. Rookie Jakub Kornfeil (WithU Motorsport) was able to finish P13 and after being forced to start from pitlane after problems before the race, Xavier Simeon’s (LCR E-Team) title hopes took a huge dent as he came across the line in P14. After his huge crash in Race 1, Lukas Tulovic (Tech3 E-Racing) somehow managed to finish Race 2 in P15, with Aegerter taking the flag in P16 after his unfortunate crash. Josh Hook (Octo Pramac MotoE) crashed with two laps to go.
Another phenomenal MotoE™ race ends with Ferrari now sitting at the top of the standings heading into Le Mans – the final round. Ferrari, Aegerter and Torres are split by just seven points heading into the double-header in France, with Casadei also very much in contention. Bring on Le Mans as we get set to crown the second-ever MotoE™ World Cup winner!
Top 10:
1. Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE)
2. Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.996
3. Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) + 1.098
4. Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) + 3.907
5. Alessandro Zaccone (Trentino Gresini MotoE) + 4.619
6. Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 6.046
7. Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) + 6.097
8. Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE) + 6.775
9. Alejandro Medina (Openbank Aspar Team) + 6.672*
10. Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) + 7.042
*demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the last lap
Click here for the full results!