MotoE Test Jerez J1: Eric Granado lowers his record!

The MotoE World Cup began its first official pre-season test today in excellent weather conditions. A total of 17 of the 18 riders were present for these tests, including last year's inaugural MotoE World Cup champion, Italian Matteo Ferrari, who today dominated the first two of three sessions, the best Bradley Smith's time achieved during the first session was not validated, for a reason unknown to us.

The Brazilian Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) was the fastest at the end of this first day by achieving a best time of 1'48.345, or 6 tenths better than Luis' record of 1'48.984 since 2019. The second best absolute time was established by Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) in 1'48.429, while the third best time was achieved by the Briton Bradley Smith (With U Motorsport) in 1'49.009.

A new engine configuration to increase low-speed torque, a new larger rear tire (675 mm circumference compared to 660 last year) and various adjustment increases for the front suspension, these are the modifications which have made it possible to lower the pace from the first of three days of testing. Also new for this first test of the season are the new second-generation charging stations. Each day, the MotoE category will have an hour and a half on the track, divided into three half-hour sessions.

 

 

 

The first session of the morning was dominated by the champion Matteo Ferrari who stopped his time in 1.49.886 after completing 7 laps of the track in Jerez. Even if Live Timing gave him a time of 1'49.168, the Briton Bradley Smith was awarded the second best time in 1.50.052 while the Brazilian Eric Granado finished third in 1'50.090 ahead Xavier Simeon (LCR E-Team). The Andalusian rookie Alejandro Medina (Openbank Aspar Team), entered the top 10, being tenth in 1'52.917, while another Spanish rookie, in this case Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40), was twelfth with 1.53.400. The Spanish Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) is fourteenth with a time of 1'54.142.

 

 

 

Italian Matteo Ferrari, once again imposed his rule during the second session with a time of 1'48.570, followed by the French Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) with a 1'49.036 and the Brazilian Eric Granado in 1'49.113.

 

 

 

Eric Granado achieved the best time of the third and final session by stopping the clock at 1'48.345, ultimately the best absolute time of the day, followed less than a tenth by Matteo Ferrari, while the third best time went to Bradley Smith in 1'49.008. Maria Herrera, on the other hand, was once again the fastest of the Spaniards, finishing in eleventh place in 1'50.825.

 

 

 

In the end, we see that riders who already have a season under their belt are much more efficient than newcomers who have yet to discover the instructions for MotoE... 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, the second day will see a schedule change. MotoE testing will start at 9:30 a.m. and end at 10:00 a.m. The drivers will be back on track from 13 p.m. to 13:30 p.m. and will close the day from 16 p.m. to 16:30 p.m.

 

Photo credit: A. Rivero