After a great season finale with two victories in the MotoE category, the Reale Avintia Racing Team will reward Brazilian rider Eric Granado by giving him the opportunity to ride the Ducati GP18 during the test that will take place this week at the Jerez circuit.
Eric Granado topping QP in MotoE
Despite a challenging start to the year, Granado concluded the first MotoE season in third position overall, overcoming the adversities that he had to face throughout the year.
Eric Granado
The Reale Avintia team is to offer the riders of our structure what they deserve and this is a great opportunity to see the potential and feelings of this young pilot in MotoGP.
Eric Granado with his Energica Eva
Jerez marks the second 2020 test, with the two-day event taking place on Monday and Tuesday. Maverick Vinales was fastest at the previous Valencia test, leading the Yamaha trio including Quartararo and Morbidelli, with top Ducati being Dovizioso back in eighth, followed by Jack Miller in 11th.
23-year-old Brazilian Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama) took initial honours in the first ever FIM Enel MotoE World Cup “race” in Valencia, with riders lining up for a race simulation at the start of final day of the pre-season test.
Garzo leads Granado and Tuuli
Granado had missed out on pole by just 0.025 to Hector Garzo (Tech 3 E-Racing) on Tuesday, but he fought back once the lights went out to overtake the Spaniard on the final lap and in the process scored himself a new Energica Eva as his prize.
Eric Granado with his new Energica Eva as his prize
Garzo took second, with Niki Tuuli (Ajo MotoE) – another who has shown consistent pace in practice so far – completing the podium a few tenths further back.
Hector Garzo
“We started with normal settings and found our pace quite early. We tried different shocks and tyres for the bike and found the way, that we wanted. The E-Pole was a really good test for that moment and finally, for the race, I think we have all the settings we want on our way. We have a decent base for Germany and for the start of the season with this bike. Everything is good and I’m really confident.”
MotoE Race Simulation Podium Niki Tuuli (L), Eric Granado and Hector Garzo (R)
Nico Terol (Openbank Angel Nieto Team) took fourth, with Matteo Ferrari (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse) completing the top five.
Nico Terol
Nico Terol
“I am very happy. I got off the bike with a smile on my face today because I am really enjoying riding the MotoE and we are at a high level. This test was a huge weight off my shoulders. After such a long time without racing, it has given me a lot of strength to see myself up at the front – I have talent and I am a World Champion. The bike went really well and I got a great start to take the lead. It reminded me of my first Moto2 podium here at Valencia. My only mistake was to lose touch with the front three in the early laps because it took me too long to close the gap back down. I would like to have been challenging for the win but I fought hard to the end for third place and never gave up. This fourth place feels good, the progress from the first test to now has been fantastic. I am really looking forward to the race in Germany. This championship is going to be exciting and will be a nice surprise for the fans.”
Nico Terol fought through to fourth
Matteo Ferrari
“It’s been an important test and we improved a lot lap after lap. There’s a nice atmosphere within the team and this can only help. We had a little bit of bad luck as well due to a faulty tyre during practice, but still things went smooth and I had a lot of fun on this bike. We also did an E-Pole and a race simulation. I must say that I really like the qualifying format – like the old Superpole. We were quite quick even though we’re still one second away from the leaders, but I’m sure there’ll be a chance to close the gap.”
Matteo Ferrari
One man expected to be in that tight fight at the front wasn’t on track, however – Tuesday’s fastest Bradley Smith (One Energy Racing) was absent as he undertook testing duties in MotoGP.
MotoE Race Simulation
Josh Hook, the defending World Endurance Champion with F.C.C TSR Honda, also could not capitalise on the full three days of testing as a bout of gastro sidelined the young Australian from most of the test.
Josh Hook
Josh Hook
“It was an important test as in the first two days of testing I managed to do very few laps, and I was forced to missing the qualifying session. They have been 7 laps useful to get familiar with the circuit and especially to do some kilometres on the bike in view of the debut in Germany.”
Josh Hook
After the race simulation riders got a chance to have a final 30-minute session from 1700, although it ended prematurely in a Red Flag due to crashes for Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Maria Herrera (Openbank Angel Nieto Team), riders both ok.
Randy De Puniet was a DNF in the race simulation
María Herrera
“The race simulation was very positive. We know we can make overtakes, we are fast, and we showed that. We could have been fighting for the top five because we had the pace for it and that gives us a lot of motivation. We are doing a good job, improving our pace from practice to practice and the team are giving me a lot of confidence. I think I can be fighting at the front and I’m sure this year will be a lot of fun.”
María Herrera
The late session was their last chance to test before heading out on track at the Sachsenring for the first round of the season and it was Tuuli who went fastest with the quickest time of the test, a 1:40.127 and 0.486 quicker than second place Casadei.
Niccolo Canepa
To put that 1m40.127s time into perspective for the fledgling new MotoE category, the MotoGP fastest lap record at Valencia is 1m29.401, the Moto2 record is 1m34.879, and the Moto3 tiddlers becnhmark is 1m38.428.
Hector Garzo
Garzo was third on the timesheets at the end of Day 3, and race simulation winner Granado was 0.533 off Tuuli’s benchmark in fourth. 2008 125 World Champion Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completed the top five.
Simeon just won the battle for sixth in the race simulation
As is so often the case, Tech3 manager Hervé Poncharal offered the most informative feedback following the test and race simulation.
Hervé Poncharal – Tech3 Team Manager
“With the end of the three days test for the MotoE in Valencia, we as Tech3 E-Racing are very, very happy about it. For sure, at first, I would like to thank Energica and Enel for their hard work by having everything ready for a full and strong test. It was great, to be back on track, but also amazing to see the bikes riding a complete race distance with the simulation. I believe it was also very interesting to try the E-Pole and all together it went well. The life of the batteries seems to be good enough without any dropping for a proper sprint race and for sure, I would also like to thank our whole crew and especially Hector for his fantastic job during these three days. He was fastest on day one and topping almost each session, he won the E-Pole and showed a very great fight with Eric Granado in the race simulation, in total he delivered a very good feeling for the entire team. Kenny, who is a rider with a bit more experience, I believe, has learned a lot from his young team-mate and it is fantastic have such a great relationship in between our two riders. We’ve got a good team, we are happy and I believe MotoE will soon be a real part of the MotoGP championship and after what we saw in Valencia, I’m quite sure that the people at the Sachsenring will enjoy the very first MotoE race a lot. We still have a few things to prepare, but I think all of the MotoE field can’t wait to be in Germany for the first official MotoE practice session.”
Nico Terol leads Xavier Simeon
Now the E-Paddock gears up for the Sachsenring, which plays host to the opening round of the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup from the 5th to 7th July.
Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta provided his viewpoint on the direction of the new MotoE category.
Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta
“It was very good, from the beginning the way we wanted to do it was makes races and I think today we showed it was a real race, with all the riders competing. I was talking to them and they were very happy. And we’re happy because I think it’s a way to enter into this new energy and show we can do with it the same we’ve been doing since 1992. As with everything we do, it’s very important, MotoE™ just as any other category. Everything we do is important for us, and we’re trying to share with spectators how good motor racing is.”
10-seconds off Moto2 pace but a lot of speed to be found
High-profile MotoE riders sparked up their mounts for the first time in Spain overnight in company with the official Moto2 testing schedule ahead of season 2019.
The fastest time from the first outing for the MotoE machines came from Ajo Motorsports rider Niki Tuuli, a 1m51.721. That opening day benchmark nearly ten-seconds slower than the fastest Moto2 time of the day recorded by Lorenzo Baldasarri, as a new chapter also started for Moto2 with the move to Triumph engines for season 2019.
Clearly, these are only the first baby steps for the MotoE machines, but with high-profile teams and highly skilled riders, Dorna is certainly providing this new class with every chance of success.
Angel Nieto Team’s Energica MotoE machine
Many riders would have liked to have turned a lot more laps but were restricted by battery capacity and recharge times, as at this test many of the two-rider teams only had one machine at their disposal to be shared by two riders.
Former WorldSSP podium finisher and Moto2 rider Niki Tuuli (Ajo Motorsport MotoE) topped the times on Day 1 of three, setting a quickest time of 1:51.721.
Moto3 laptimes had tumbled dramatically after the first runs, and by the end of play Tuuli, a previous WorldSSP podium finisher, proved fast enough to beat 2017 European Moto2 Champion Eric Granado (Esponsorama Racing) by 0.121s.
Former Grand Prix rider Randy de Puniet (LCR E-Team) completed the top three with only 0.185 splitting the trio.
Randy de Puniet (LCR E-Team)
Bradley Smith is another high-profile current riders to be taking on MotoE in 2019, alongside his new official test role as development rider for Aprillia MotoGP, the Brit will race MotoE with the One Energy Racing Team and was 0.618 off the top on his first outing.
Bradley Smith
Bradley Smith
“I am happy to have completed my first laps on the MotoE bike. The first session was in the wet, so it was a good opportunity to compare it to the feeling in the dry conditions that we had later. I am positively surprised with the handling of the bike and the way it has performed here at Jerez. We have to work out which steps we need to take to improve everything and evaluate the result of each step. So far everything we have seen has been positive; now we need to analyse the work we have done on this first day and make a plan for tomorrow. We were in the top three for the majority of the day, now we have to work out a way to be the fastest, which is the objective.”
Bradley Smith
Alex De Angelis (Alma Pramac Racing) was just 0.064 behind Smith in P5. The much anticipated return of former MotoGP frontrunner Sete Gibernau, meanwhile, saw the 45-year-old hit the ground running and only just over a second off the top.
Sete Gibernau
World Endurance Champion Josh Hook was P14 and shared the Alma Pramac electric bike with team-mate Alex De Angelis as the Australian got his first brief taste of MotoE machinery. Hook finished up in P14 just behind fellow WEC regular Kenny Foray who made his debut with the new Tech3 MotoE squad.
Kenny Foray – P13
“Everything was totally new for me today and I also didn’t know the track very well yet. So, the first laps I spent to learn the track and then I started to try to find a feeling, after being on a 1000cc machine all the time. Lap by lap, I enjoyed it more and more, but I know, I still have to work a lot on myself to adapt my style, especially to improve my corner speed and some other things. I have to admit, it’s not easy, but it’s a lot of fun!”
Kenny Foray
Josh Hook – P14
“I had a great time. If I have to be honest, I was impressed by the power delivery of the bike when accelerating, but mainly the most impressive thing was how easy the bike is to ride. After two laps I was already pushing hard. I wanted to lap more but the battery doesn’t allow it”.
Female road race sensation María Herrera is also taking on the new challenge of in an Ángel Nieto squad alongside team-mate Nico Terol. Terol was the faster of the two on day one after completing ten laps with a best effort of 1’54.192. Terol had the opportunity to ride the bike here on the occasion of the Spanish Grand Prix earlier in the year and is confident that there is plenty of room for improvement over the next two days of the test.
Nico Terol – P12
“I did seven laps in the final session of the day, after watching my team-mate in the other two. I didn’t have the set-up how it needed to be – it was very soft on the front and I couldn’t brake how I wanted. On the fourth lap I set my best time and I am sure I could have gone faster but tomorrow I will have two sessions back to back and I’ll be able to give more and get more out of the bike.”
Nico Terol
María was riding the Energica machine for the first time and was sixteenth fastest in her debut appearance on the bike she will race in 2019. The Spanish youngster reported a good feeling from her first laps of the Spanish track and already has some ideas on how to adapt her riding style to the specific demands of this new machine.
María Herrera – P16
“The first feeling with the MotoE bike is good, the acceleration is quite smooth and it reminds me of a 600 – you have to keep the corner speed up because you can’t be aggressive on the gas. I have to understand the best way to get this bike stopped with the weight it has, which will be one of the main points of focus, as well as the inertia in corner entry, having never ridden a bike like this before. I didn’t ride much today, only the first two sessions, but I am keen to get the bike set up how I like it and seeing how far we can go with it.”
María Herrera
Teams and riders were not just getting their heads around new and very different machinery than they had ridden before, but also were getting up to speed with new rubber. Specially designed, the front tyres are a derivative of MotoGP tyres but the rears have more of a Superbike background.
The fronts need to support the heavy bikes under braking, whereas the rears need to warm up quickly for the shorter race distances in the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup. With the different characteristics of each, that made it something very new for each rider out on track – regardless of their racing experience.
Lucio Cecchinello put this image out on his Instagram account that shows some of what is behind the fairings of the new MotoE machines
