Gutierrez holds off Granado to take a sensational maiden win

Race 1 for the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Championship delivered at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya with Oscar Gutierrez (Axxis-MSI) taking a maiden MotoE™ victory and a new lap record in the process. It was an impressive ride from the Spaniard who held off polesitter Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) all the way to the line in a race which will go down in the history books. Kevin Zannoni (Openbank Aspar Team) took the final spot on the podium, only able to watch the battle for first after a cracking ride from eighth on the grid.

Once the lights went out, Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team) stole the race lead at turn one with Zannoni and Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™) behind. Meanwhile, polesitter Granado had a tough opening lap and dropped to fifth on the opening lap. However, it would not take long for further drama to unfold after double Le Mans race winner Nicholas Spinelli (Tech3 E-Racing) crashed at the final corner at the end of the opening lap – ending any chance of fighting for the victory.

Meanwhile, the race would continue at the front with Zannoni soon stealing the race lead after a perfect slipstream on the main straight before Garzo followed through to drop Casadei to third. Granado was the next rider to pass Casadei, with the #51 charging hard for a podium.

Lukas Tulovic (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™) was the next rider to fall at turn 10 to bring a premature end to his race. This would be before Chaz Davies (Aruba Cloud MotoE™ Racing Team) and Andrea Mantovani (KLINT Factory Racing Team) would crash at the same corner, one lap later.

It would be a lead group of six riders, going four wides on the entry to turn one before rookie Gutierrez took the race lead in Race 1 with three laps remaining. The #99 set the fastest lap of the race and began to try and stretch a lead to Granado in second.

However, the front two would still be locked together on the final lap, as Gutierrez held off Granado on the entry to turn one, in what looked to be a last lap fight for victory. However, Granado could not find a way through, allowing Gutierrez to take a maiden victory in MotoE™.

Fourth place went the way of Garzo who had a strong end to the race – missing out on the podium by 0.378s. Alessandro Zaccone (Tech3 E-Racing) rounded out the top five, able to beat Championship leader Casadei, who scored strong points. Openbank Aspar Team’s Jordi Torres was seventh, a further 0.033s behind the #40 with Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE™) moving up the order to eighth. Meanwhile, Axxis-MSI’s Miquel Pons and Massimo Roccoli (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse) rounded out the top 10.

Make sure you don’t miss all of the action from Race 2 in Barcelona at 16:10 local time (UTC +2)!

Top 10:

FULL RESULTS!