Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) is your 2020 FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup winner. The Spanish rookie finished P6 in Race 2 at the SHARK Helmets Grand Prix de France to claim the title in a race that saw Niki Tuuli (Avant Ajo MotoE) return to winning ways for the first time since the very first MotoE™ race. Home hero Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Josh Hook (Octo Pramac MotoE) completed the final rostrum of the 2020 MotoE™ campaign in another dramatic encounter at Le Mans.
Ahead of the race, Torres needed an eighth place finish or better to be crowned the 2020 World Cup winner, no matter what his rivals did. From pole position, Torres got a decent launch but not as good as Tuuli. The Finn grabbed the holeshot with Torres very tentative into Turn 3, as drama unfolded. Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) was down at Turn 3 and tagged the back of Torres, luckily the Spaniard wasn’t affected as Alejandro Medina (Openbank Aspar Team) also went down at Turn 3. Torres – by the skin of his teeth – emerged from the opening chicane unscathed, with Tuuli leading Di Meglio and Hook.
Further round the opening lap, Tommaso Marcon (Tech3 E-Racing) crashed out at Turn 7, with Torres slipping to P6 behind Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) and the rapid starting Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP). P6 was good enough for Torres but he was soon past Herrera, with Di Meglio taking the lead of his home Grand Prix on Lap 2. It was a leading trio at the front that consisted of Di Meglio, Tuuli and Hook, with Aegerter not quite close enough in P4 to mount a podium attack.
Torres was happy sitting in P5, and rightly so. There was no need to push for a podium, all that mattered was finishing 8th or higher. However, there was a great battle up ahead for said podium and with two laps remaining, Tuuli retook the lead from Di Meglio heading into Turn 3. Further back, Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) was hunting down Torres and with Aegerter in P4, Ferrari needed P5 to draw level on points with the Swiss man for P2 in the overall standings.
Coming onto the last lap, Tuuli still held strong but Di Meglio was hooked onto the back of his Energica Ego Corsa. Could the latter snatch a home Grand Prix victory on the last lap? Meanwhile, Ferrari did get the better of Torres coming onto the last lap of 2020 but that didn’t matter for Torres. One more lap of the legendary Le Mans was all that stood in his way from World Cup glory.
At the front, Tuuli strung together a perfect last lap to claim his first MotoE™ victory since the 2019 German GP – the maiden electric class race. After an injury-plagued couple of years, Tuuli returns to the fore. Di Meglio picks up a second home rostrum of the weekend, two P2s is a job well done for the Frenchman and just behind the duo, Hook picks up his first MotoE™ podium after finishing P4 on Saturday.
P4 from P14 on the grid for Aegerter was a sensational effort from the Swiss rider and former standings leader, but with Ferrari finishing P5, Aegerter has to settle for P3 in the final overall classification. Nevertheless, a phenomenal rookie campaign for Aegerter. 2019 World Cup winner Ferrari will be ruing his Race 1 crash on Saturday afternoon, the Italian is forced to pick up the runners-up medal this season. Ferrari finished on the same points as Aegerter, but takes second on wins accumulated.
The Le Mans podium to himself! ????@jorditorres81 IS your 2020 #MotoE World Cup Winner! ????#SpanishElv1s | #FrenchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/sBDP1HHlkw
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) October 11, 2020
Then, Torres crossed the line. A wonderful moment for ‘Spanish Elvis’ who did all he had to do to become just the second MotoE™ World Cup winner. The three-time Moto2™ podium finisher thoroughly deserves the 2020 crown and eventually finishes 17 points ahead of Ferrari and Aegerter in the title race – huge congratulations to Torres and the team!
Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) picked up P7, just ahead of teammate Xavier Simeon in the final race of 2020. Herrera claims her second top 10 of the weekend in P9, a great way for the Aspar rider to finish the season, with Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) completing the top 10.
The injured Lukas Tulovic (Tech3 E-Racing) battled the pain to claim P11 in Race 2, the German finishing just over a second clear of Moto2™ European Championship rival Alessandro Zaccone (Trentino Gresini MotoE). Mattia Casadei’s (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) titles hopes ultimately vanished after his Turn 3 crash in Race 1, and it was a disappointing weekend for the Italian who takes P13 away with him from the final race. However, Casadei’s season as a whole is something to be cheerful about for him and the team.
Casadei finished a smidgen ahead of the Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE) in the Sammarinese rider’s final Grand Prix appearance. The 36-year-old suffered a heavy E-Pole crash and showed grit and determination to ride in Race 1 and 2, as he bowed out of racing after a stellar career that included 40 Grand Prix podiums. Jakub Kornfeil (WithU Motorsport) picked up the final point in P15, taking his overall tally to 15 in his rookie campaign.
The chequered flag flies on a fantastic career! ????@PramacMotoE and @pramacracing come out for one last round of applause for @AlexDeAngelis15! ????#FrenchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/aaJKvEXcKT
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) October 11, 2020
And with that, the 2020 MotoE™ World Cup concludes. A rookie winner is crowned after another phenomenal season of electric class racing, congratulations to Torres and Pons 40 Racing. Bring on 2021!
Top 10:
1. Niki Tuuli (Avant Ajo MotoE)
2. Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 0.166
3. Josh Hook (Octo Pramac MotoE) + 1.294
4. Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) + 2.353
5. Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) + 6.017
6. Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) + 6.490
7. Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) + 10.066
8. Xavier Simeon (LCR E-Team) + 10.472
9. Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) + 10.663
10. Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) + 11.101
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