Granado beats Torres to grab 2021 E-Pole hat-trick

It’s three E-Poles in three at the beginning of 2021 for Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) after the Brazilian produced a sterling 1:50.446 to beat reigning World Cup winner Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) by less than a tenth on Saturday afternoon. Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) completes the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup front row at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya.

The fight for E-Pole

2019 World Cup winner Matteo Ferrari (Indonesian E-Racing Gresini MotoE) set a 1:51.187 to set title chase leader Alessandro Zaccone (Octo Pramac MotoE) a time to beat, and that’s exactly what the Italian did. Zaccone was the first rider into the 1:50s in E-Pole – a 1:50.813 – as nine riders waited their turn in the one-lap dash for pole position in Barcelona.

Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) slotted his Energica Ego Corsa into P2, 0.264s off Zaccone’s time, before  Aegerter set his best lap of the weekend to go provisional pole position by 0.094s. Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team) was the next rider to set a lap time and the Spaniard missed out on beating Aegerter by a whisker, the rookie going second by just 0.007s.

Torres soon rose to the fore though, setting a 1:50.517 to go P1 by over two tenths. It was then Tulovic’s turn to power his way around the lap and in Sector 1, the German was 0.408s under Torres’ time. However, Tulovic failed to hold his advantage to the line and slotted into P4, with just Granado and Fermin Aldeguer (Openbank Aspar Team) to come.

Granado’s first split was a stunner – 0.337s under Torres’ pace, and it was pretty much the same through Sector 2. Granado was two tenths up through the third split and sure enough, the Le Mans winner crossed the line and took provisional pole by 0.071s. Next up: Free Practice pacesetter Aldeguer.

The first half of the lap didn’t quite hook up for the rapid rookie, the 16-year-old was 0.404s down on Granado’s time, before it was half a second at the third split. Aldeguer took the chequered flag in P7, half a second down on Granado, which handed the latter E-Pole in Barcelona.

The top 10

Behind the leading trio sits Pons at the pointy end of Row 2, Tulovic and Zaccone are ready to pounce from P5 and P6 respectively. Aldeguer leads Row 3 from Casadei and Ferrari, with Cardelus completing a top 10 covered by 0.952.

Tune into the MotoE™ race from Barcelona at 16:00 local time (GMT+2).

Top 10:
1. Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) – 1:50.446
2. Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) + 0.071
3. Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) + 0.273
4. Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team) + 0.280
5. Lukas Tulovic (Tech3 E-Racing) + 0.326
6. Alessandro Zaccone (Octo Pramac MotoE) + 0.367
7. Fermin Aldeguer (Openbank Aspar Team) + 0.545
8. Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) + 0.631
9. Matteo Ferrari (Indonesian E-Racing Gresini MotoE) + 0.741
10. Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) + 0.952

FULL RESULTS!