Eric Granado was the man to beat on Day 1 of FIM Enel MotoE World Cup action at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, this time setting a new lap record – 1:42.910 – to gain some breathing space at the top.
His closest challenger was Sammarinese home hero Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE), two tenths in arrears, with three-time Misano winner Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) third overall.
The sun was shining at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli but the day wasn’t without some dramas, including a crash for the fastest man on Friday, Granado. He went down right at the end of the day, but no harm done and rider ok.
On the other end of the scale, closest rival De Angelis crashed near the start of the day in FP1, tumbling at Turn 14. Rider also ok, but losing much of the session before he could get back out – making his P2 overall even more impressive.
Behind Granado, de Angelis and P3 man Ferrari, Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) was the fastest rookie on Friday as he took fourth, completing a top four on the combined timesheets who all set their fastest laps in the morning.
Xavier Simeon (LCR E-Team) in fifth was the first to break that trend, the Belgian quicker in the morning by a few tenths and that keeping him in the top five. The number 10 did crash in the afternoon, however – rider ok.
Tommaso Marcon (Tech 3 E-Racing) was next up and sixth quickest on one of his best days in MotoE™ yet, just 0.018 off Simeon and improving by nearly eight tenths from FP1 to FP2. Points leader Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP), meanwhile, was seventh overall and 0.662 off Granado by the end of the day, the Swiss rider one of those who didn’t go quicker in FP2.
Veteran Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was next up in P8, shuffled down by just 0.015, with Lukas Tulovic (Tech 3 E-Racing) less than a tenth behind him. The gap to complete the top ten was even smaller, with Alessandro Zaccone (Trentino Gresini MotoE) 0.004 behind the German, forced to settle for tenth.
One surprise on Day 1 was Mattia Casadei (SIC58 Squadra Corse), with the Italian down in 11th overall. He’ll be one of those looking for more in E-Pole and Race 1 as Saturday promises a packed program for the electric runners!
Tune in as E-pole decides the grid for Race 1 at the earlier time of 11:45 (GMT +2) on Saturday morning, with the lights going out for that first race of the weekend at 16:20. Can Granado get back on top and stop Ferrari’s clean Misano sweep? Will de Angelis get that first podium? And what about Aegerter after a tougher start so far? Tune in to find out and remember: the Race 1 results now decide the grid for Race 2!
MotoE fastest on Friday:
2 Alex de Angelis – Octo Pramac MotoE – Energica – +0.207
3 Matteo Ferrari – Trentino Gresini MotoE – Energica – +0.252
