Eric Granado departs Jerez with a MotoE double victory – Dominique Aegerter narrowly beaten in the battle for the podium
Maximum score for Eric Granado: The Brazilian also won the second MotoE race. He won a close battle against LCR team-mate Miquel Pons and Dominique Aegerter (IntactGP), who lost third place to Mattia Casadei (Pons) in the last corner.
Aegerter was in the mix right from the start. Shortly after the start, the Swiss even took the lead for the first time when Hector Garzo (Tech3), Casadei and Pons went off the line at turn 6. After that, he was able to pull away from the rest of the field together with Pons and Granado.
This led to a three-way fight for victory, which was only decided on the final lap. Aegerter tried his luck in turn 1 and attacked Pons, but could not hold the line and dropped back to third place behind Granado.
Race decision falls on last lap
In turn 6 Granado made the decisive overtaking manoeuvre and did not relinquish the lead thereafter. Pons defended second place against Aegerter, who lost the last place on the podium to Casadei. The latter had caught up again due to the battles at the front and passed in turn 13.
Last lap overtake! ⚔️@ericgranadomoves past his teammate into Pedrosa corner! MotoESpanishGP pic.twitter.com/Pj6SgAWqTJ
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) May 1, 2022
For Aegerter, therefore, only the ungrateful fourth place remained. In the end, 94 thousandths separated him from the podium. “Unfortunately I made a big mistake in the last corner, but I also thought that we were only three,” explained the IntactGP rider after the race, annoyed.
“Unfortunately I gave away the podium, but the MotoE races are always incredibly difficult, you have to tactic and my plan was actually to be first going into the last lap so I had a chance to win. “
Aegerter “a little disappointed” with fourth place
“In the first corner of the last lap I went a bit wide when overtaking Pons and immediately lost two places, but I thought I could attack again. Unfortunately that didn’t work out and then I ran out of time”, Aegerter summarised the last decisive metres.
One lap to go! @DomiAegerter77 makes a late move for the lead but runs wide and drops to 3rd! MotoESpanishGP pic.twitter.com/pqY9u4TdTy
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) May 1, 2022
He admits: “I’m a bit disappointed with fourth place, of course, but it’s still important points to take to Le Mans in a fortnight’ time. I’ll prepare myself again in the best possible way, but we showed here in Jerez that we’re among the best, it’s just that luck wasn’t quite on my side.”
The Swiss is second in the overall standings after the first stop of the season, 17 points behind double winner Granado. “Luckily we still have twelve races to get the points back in,” Aegerter is confident.
Tulovic has bad luck and finishes twelfth
In Sunday’s race, Hikari Okuba (Ajo) completed the top five, with Matteo Ferrari (Gresini) and Jordi Torres (Pons), both overall World Cup winners in previous years, lining up in sixth and seventh. Alex Escrig (Tech3), Niccolo Canepa (RNF) and Kevin Manfredi (Pramac) claimed the remaining top-10 places.
Garzo crashed while lying fourth with three laps to go. German Lukas Tulovic (RNF), who replaced the injured Bradley Smith in Jerez, dropped back to twelfth after early contact with Marc Alcoba (Aspar).
