Dominique Aegerter has won his third MotoE race in a row – In Assen, the Swiss rider narrowly held off Eric Granado and Mattia Casadei
Hat trick for Dominique Aegerter: After the double victory in Mugello, the Swiss from the German IntactGP team also won the first MotoE race in Assen. In a thrilling battle to the finish line, he narrowly beat Eric Granado (LCR) and Mattia Casadei (Pons).
Aegerter started the eight-lap race from pole, but lost the start to Matteo Ferrari (Gresini) and was only fourth in the first corner. But because Granado and Casadei made mistakes in front of him, he quickly took over second place again.
Together they chased Ferrari, who was not able to pull away noticeably and lost his lead to Granado in turn 15 at the end of the fourth lap. Granado had overtaken Aegerter at the same spot a lap earlier and was now dueling with Casadei and putting pressure on Ferrari at the same time.
Incredible as @DomiAegerter77 takes P2 at Turn 1 ⚔️
This is MotoE action as it best ⚡️DutchGP pic.twitter.com/FbuzUDN2au
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) June 25, 2022
The 2019 MotoE champion slowly lost patience and fell back after making a mistake. At the front, meanwhile, the battle for victory between Granado, Aegerter and Casadei was coming to a head as they kept swapping positions in the closing stages.
Casadei entered the last lap in the lead. The decisive attack came a few metres before the finish line: Aegerter gained momentum on the outside of turn 15 to squeeze past Casadei in the finish chicane and take the lead.
While Casadei was already annoyed about losing the victory, he didn’t notice how Granado passed him on the right. In the end, the top 3 were separated by just 0.081 seconds.
It’s a three way battle to the finish line ⚔️ @DomiAegerter77 takes the win of this MotoE raceDutchGP pic. twitter.com/KqrLC2nADH
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) June 25, 2022
“I am very happy. Yesterday the pole and today the victory,” Aegerter commented on his Assen win after crossing the finish line and emphasised: “It was not an easy victory. It was a big fight, as it usually is in MotoE races. At the end, some didn’t know that we had already seen the chequered flag.”
“There was a full attack in all eight laps. You didn’t get anything from anyone. It was a great fight. I’m very happy to have won and made up five points.” In the overall standings, the Swiss extended his lead over Granado to now 34 points.
Jeremy Alcoba (Aspar) crashed out shortly before the end of the race. As a result, Ferrari inherited fourth place. Hector Garzo (Tech 3) completed the top five, with Miquel Pons (LCR), Niccolo Canepa, Bradley Smith (both RNF), Jorge Torres (Pons) and Kevin Zannoni (SIC58) all sixth to tenth.
Another MotoE race is scheduled for Assen on Sunday at 15:30. The Dutch circuit is the third last stop of the season before Spielberg and San Marino.
