MotoE: Flawless Ferrari Secures Home Victory in Misano

Matteo Ferrari came out top in a close MotoE race at Misano that saw the top seven riders covered by less than eight tenths.

The reigning cup champion rode a well calculated race and took the lead with three laps remaining. Ferrari did not look back from there and took the chequered flag first ahead of Xavier Simeon and Dominique Aegerter.

Aegerter continues to lead the championship on 57 points, but Ferrari moved up into second and sits 12 points adrift of his opponent. Jordi Torres is third in the standings a further two points behind.

Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadrocorse) grabbed the holeshot from pole and led into Turn 1 from Xavier Simeon (LCR E-Team) and Lukas Tulovic (Tech 3 E-Racing). Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) stayed in fourth at the lights but swiftly made his way into third to stay within touch of the lead. Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) struggled to find his rhythm on the opening lap and dropped several positions before he profitted from a couple of riders, including Tulovic, running wide at Turn 13 and crossed the line in fifth from Casadei, Simeon, Ferrari and Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40).

Casadei had opened a small advantage over his chasers on the opening lap, but he could not break away as suggested in the early stages. Simeon decisively reeled him in and dragged the riders in his immediate vicinity with him, forming a leading group of five at the front of the field.

Ferrari started his hunt for the top with four laps to go. The Italian exchanged punches with Simeon who tried everything to hang on to his position but eventually had to surrender second at Quercia. Behind them, Torres and Aegerter got feisty with each other and swapped paint through Turns 13 to 15, but the Spaniard managed to stay ahead.

The duels slowed the front group down and allowed Mike di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) to close in and briefly move past Aegerter going into Lap 5 before swiftly being demoted back into sixth.

Ferrari executed an inch-perfect outbraking manoeuvre on Casadei at Curvone and hit the front for the first time in the race. Once in the lead, the reigning champion had his head down and started to stretch out an advantage, forcing Simeon to punch his way past Casadei into second to stay within a chance of victory.

Simeon’s late charge reduced the gap out front, but Ferrari was in control and took the chequered flag two tenths ahead to win on home turf like he did last year. Simeon stayed in second but behind him, the fight for positions was far from over.

Casadei was late on the brakes to deny Torres an attempt, but Aegerter was the man on the move. The cup leader timed his final lap perfectly and first dived underneath Torres for fourth at Tramonto before taking the final podium spot off Casadei down the inside at Carro. The manoeuvre in the final sector allowed Torres to pounce and also make his way past Casadei to cross the line in fourth. Di Meglio finished in sixth, less than eight tenths of the race win.

Alessandro Zaccone (Trentino Gresini MotoE) came home in seventh ahead of Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE) and Tommaso Marcon (Tech 3 E-Racing). Eric Granado’s (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) damage limitation job from last on the grid meanwhile ended in 10^th place.

Outside the top 10, Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) was 11^th from Tulovic and Alejandro Medina (Openbank Aspar Team). Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) finished 14^th and Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) secured the final point on offer in 15^th.

Just off the points, Jakub Kornfeil (WithU Motorsport) crossed the line in 16^th ahead of Niki Tuuli (Avant Ajo MotoE) who finished 17^th at his return from injury. Josh Hook (Octo Pramac MotoE) rounded out the field after the Le Mans 24h winner ran well wide at Quercia in the early stages of the race.