Ferrari takes out the finale in a last-lap battle

Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE™) has won the final race of the 2022 FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup after he and Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40) swapped the lead three times on the final lap at the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. Rounding out the podium in Race 2 at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli was Eric Granado (LCR E-Team), while the rider who had sealed the World Cup title 24 hours earlier, Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™), finished fourth.

Casadei takes control of the race

When the lights went out, Casadei got the jump and took a clear lead to the first corner, ahead of pole-sitter Aegerter, Granado, and Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40). Ferrari lost three positions relative to where he qualified but had recovered two of them to be running fifth by the time he exited Rio (Turn 4). The top two moved a second clear of the rest on Lap 2 while Ferrari was up to fourth when he overtook Torres through the fast Curvone (Turn 11) right-hander on Lap 3.

Otherwise, though, it was an unusually calm contest for the opening half of the eight-lap race – but this is MotoE™, and that was never going to last too long. On Lap 5, Aegerter moved into the lead when he went down the inside of Casadei at Carro (Turn 14), only for Casadei to reclaim first position on the run to Quercia (Turn 8) on the next lap, and by then, Granado was lurking.

The contest comes alive

When Aegerter had a moment at Carro a few corners later, Granado was right behind them, and Ferrari had made it a lead group of four. Ferrari was into a podium place when he overtook Granado on Lap 7 at Carro, before Aegerter nearly wiped out Casadei at Turn 2 on the final lap. The Swiss rider gathered it up, but not before he had lost position to both Ferrari and Granado.

All told, it meant that the 2019 World Cup winner had what had seemed not too long ago to be an unlikely shot at victory, and take his shot he did. Ferrari passed Casadei at Turn 13, but the Pons Racing rider was not giving up. He sent his Ego Corsa down the inside at the Misano corner (Turn 16), only for Ferrari to pull off the cutback and win the race by 0.195 seconds. It was also a pass which would decide who finished third in the World Cup for 2022, behind Aegerter and Granado.

How the rest of the top 10 finished

On the day, however, Granado took the chequered flag in third, ahead of Aegerter and Torres. The rest of the top 10 was Niccolo Canepa (WithU GRT RNF MotoE™ Team), Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team), Alex Escrig (Tech3 E-Racing), Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE™), and Kevin Zannoni (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse). Maria Herrera (Zinia Aspar Team) was the sole DNF of the race, limping away from a crash on Lap 6.

That brings to an end the Energica Ego Corsa era after four fantastic years. Following Ferrari’s triumph in the inaugural FIM Enel MotoE World Cup in 2019, Torres collected the title in 2020 and 2021, before Aegerter wrote himself into the record books this year. Now we look forward to the next evolution with Ducati, and more sensational electric action, in 2023!

MotoE™ Race 2 Top 10:

1. Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE)
2. Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40) + 0.195
3. Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) + 0.673
4. Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) + 1.092
5. Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) + 1.304
6. Niccolo Canepa (Withu GRT RNF MotoE Team) + 2.876
7. Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team) + 4.249
8. Alex Escrig (Tech 3 E-Racing) + 5.762
9. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) + 6.434
10. Kevin Zannoni (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) + 6.920

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