The Italians made their voices heard in the first MotoE round of the season: in a certain sense it can be said that in Portimao the electric series restarted from its world champion, given that Mattia Casadei leads the world championship ranking after the Portuguese round.
The Team LCR representative finished in third place in the inaugural race, but it was in Race 2 that he gave his best, emerging victorious from a very close battle which saw the podium within the space of just two tenths. By beating Hector Garzo and Oscar Gutierrez in the sprint, the rider from Romagna managed to score 41 points in the Portuguese weekend and is just one point ahead of Garzo, who also finished in second place in the first stage.
In Race 1, the Dynavolt Intact GP rider bowed to Nicholas Spinelli, who won by also taking advantage of the sensational KO of poleman Eric Granado (then fourth in Race 2), who fell during the first lap. Unfortunately, however, the Italian from the Tech3 team finished his second stage early and is therefore stuck at 25 points in the world rankings.
Nicholas Spinelli, Tech3 E-Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
It wasn't an easy first outing for former champions Jordi Torres and Matteo Ferrari. The Spaniard was forced to retire in Race 1 due to a late contact at Turn 5 with Alessandro Zaccone, then in the second he partially made up for it with a fifth place. The Italian from Gresini Racing in turn put together a crash and an eighth place: more was certainly expected from him.
Chaz Davies' debut in the category was also complicated. The Superbike veteran, who returned to wearing the suit and helmet for the colors of the Aruba Cloud Racing Team after a two-year hiatus, achieved the top 10 in Race 1 with ninth place, also favored by numerous crashes, but then he had to settle for 15th in the second heat.
#MotoE #Italians #Portimao #victories #Spinelli #Casadei
