MotoE Jerez 1 E-Pole: both eventful and without surprises

Until now, there were 4 of them to almost monopolize the Top 5 behind the inaccessible Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing): Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP), Niccolò Canepa (LCR E-Team), Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) and Xavier Siméon (LCR E-Team).

But this first E-Pole of the 2020 season was marked by two important facts.

First of all, the very spectacular fall suffered by Niccolò Canepa (LCR E-Team) in turn #11.
His (heavy) motorcycle was cut in two but, fortunately, the Spanish rider did not suffer any after-effects.

Niccolò Canepa : “I’m really sorry for my team, who did an incredible job over the last two days. The thing about the e-Pole is that if you make a mistake…”
“It's difficult for them, because I'm going to start last tomorrow after this very big crash. The good thing is that I was going very fast at that time, I was fighting for pole, and that's a good sign for the future. Unfortunately, as I said, tomorrow I will start last, so it will be a very difficult race because it is really difficult to overtake with these bikes. I will do my best and luckily we will have a second chance next week. »

The other highlight is the superb performance of the Tech3 E-Racing driver, Lukas Tulovic, that few people expected him to join the battle for e-Pole for his first participation in this championship. In the end, the German qualified 2nd after being at the top of the standings for most of the session.

Lukas Tulovic : “I'm super happy and I have to admit that I didn't expect to be on the front row for my first MotoE race. A big thank you to my team, they did a really good job and helped me feel better and better on this bike. We also managed to find a decent step forward for the settings, which allowed me to achieve this time. During the tour I felt good and I'm really proud that I was able to do it. Now we try to give the best of ourselves tomorrow. »

Finally, and this is anything but a surprise, Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) won the e-Pole after dominating all the sessions of this first weekend in Jerez.

Eric Granado : “I'm very happy, I think since the test here at the beginning of the year I have a good feeling with the bike and the team is doing a good job to help me feel comfortable on the track, so yes it was good. On the timed lap, I made a lot of mistakes, especially in the first two sectors! But then I was calmer and tried to do the minimum and not go off track, which meant I was starting from the back. But the last part of the track was good for me and I got pole. I'm looking forward to the race, that's for sure, the conditions were different this afternoon compared to this morning and tomorrow's race, so we'll see if tomorrow the feeling is a little better! »

The race will take place on Sunday at 10:05 a.m.

Classification and photo credit: MotoGP.com