MotoE: Aegerter Prevails in Emilia Romagna Race 1 Thriller

Dominique Aegerter came out top in a close first MotoE race at the Emilia Romagna meeting and secured pole for the second race on Sunday.

The Swiss rider executed two crucial overtakes on the final lap and won a drag race to the line against Matteo Ferrari and Jordi Torres. Ferrari took the chequered flag in second but was demoted one position due to exceeding track limits.

Aegerter extended his cup lead to 19 points over Torres with Ferrari sitting third a further two points adrift.

Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) beat polesitter Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) to the holeshot and the duo led into Turn 1 from Xavier Simeon (LCR E-Team), Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP), Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadrocorse) and Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing). Drama stroke early when Tech 3 E-Racing teammates Lukas Tulovic and Tommaso Marcon made contact at the lights resulting in Tulovic being flung into the air and having to be stretchered off the track.

Cup leader Aegerter wasted no time and moved past Simeon at Carro on the opening lap and crossed the line for the first time in a provisional podium spot. He had Torres firmly in his sight and moved past him into second at Turn 1, but the Spaniard hit back at Quercia to reclaim the position.

Granado recovered from a poor start to the race and made his way past Casadei into fifth down the back straight on Lap 2. Simeon was his next target and he lined up a move on the Belgian a lap later. Granado dived down his opponent’s inside at Rio but lost the front and wiped them both out – ending any championship hopes either rider might have still had.

A trio of Ferrari, Torres and Aegerter was left at the front, a gap having formed to Casadei who himself held an advantage over Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac MotoE). De Angelis’ race was over on Lap 4 though when he went down at Carro and could not restart his bike.

The leading trio were running closely together and started to look feisty. Aegeter briefly moved into second at Carro, but Torres cut back at Turn 15 to reclaim the position. Torres reacted and looked to line up a move on Ferrari, but though the Italian was riding a wider and more sweeping line than his opponents, he defended his position.

Aegerter took the initiative going into the final lap. The Swiss rider dived past Torres at Turn 1 and this time managed to stay ahead of his rival. The manoeuvre had allowed Ferrari a bit of breathing space, but Aegerter hunted him down quickly and parked his bike down the inside at Carro to take the lead.

Aegerter got poor drive out of Misano corner, opening a chance for Ferrari to retaliate, but the Italian also had to fend off Torres who pulled out of the slipstream down the start/finish straight. Aegerter prevailed in a drag race to the line to claim his second MotoE win and extend his cup lead. Ferrari took the chequered flag in second but was demoted one position due to exceeding track limits at Misano corner, runner-up position therefore being awarded to Torres with Ferrari rounding out the podium in third.

Casadei came home in a lonely fourth place ahead of Marcon who recovered well from the encounter with his teammate in the early stages. Niccolo Canepa (LCR E-Team) finished sixth from Alejandro Medina (Openbank Aspar Team), Josh Hook (Octo Pramac MotoE) and Xavi Cardelus (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) while Alessandro Zaccone (Trentino Gresini Racing) completed the top 10.

Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) was 11^th ahead of Jakub Kornfeil (WithU Motorsport) and Niki Tuuli (Avant Ajo MotoE) who was left without a chance after receiving a jump start penalty. Mike di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) joined de Angelis, Simeon, Granado and Tulovic among the non-finishers.