“Here is another story”: MotoE™ charged up for more at Le Mans

Zaccone, Aegerter, Casadei, Pons, Herrera and Granado get ready for Round 2 in France

Thursday, 13 May 2021

It’s a short turnaround before Round 2 of the 2021 FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup and before track action got underway at Le Mans, Jerez winner and therefore points leader Alessandro Zaccone (Octo Pramac MotoE) was joined in the pre-event Press Conference by second-placed Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP), Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse’s Mattia Casadei fresh from fourth place, top five finisher and rookie Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team), Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) and Jerez E-pole sitter Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) to talk shop ahead of lights out.

Here are some key quotes:

Alessandro Zaccone: “I feel very good, I feel strong and I feel very good with the team. We started the season in a great way and did a really good job in winter testing and in the first race weekend. I think we start here with a good base. For sure here it’ll be more difficult because I don’t know the track very well, but we’ll try to do our best.

“Here the weather will be different to Jerez, I’ve tried the MotoE bike once in the wet, here last year, but I don’t have a target. I’ll try to be as fast as possible and we’ll see during the weekend!”

Dominique Aegerter: “Jerez was quite a good weekend, it’s very important to finish the race with 20 points. In a short Championship we saw last year it’s important finish every race near the front. I’m looking forward to this weekend, I know the track from last year, we had a practice in the wet …we’ll see how the conditions will be but we’re in a good way, we have a good set up, the team are doing a great job and I feel ready to fight for a good position again.

“I think the most important is to have a lot of luck! To bring with you in the race, because I was quite unlucky last year when I got taken off at the first chicane. I think the MotoE race with short distance and no real Warm Up lap it’s hard to stand up on Sunday morning and be focused with the feeling immediately on the bike. Riders need to concentrate and be careful at the first chicane and on the first lap with the weight of the bike. But it’s important to stay in front, the first three places on the grid are important to have a clear start. E-Pole is always something special, you can’t make any mistakes and go out the track limits or crash, otherwise you start behind, so you need to always maximise it but minimise the risk you take.”

Mattia Casadei: “I’m happy because in the race in Jerez we tried a lot of new things on the bike and we’ll see, it’s better. In the race I had a good rhythm, the same as the three guys in front and we’ll see what happens here! I’m ready.

“Last year here was very bad for me! But this year, I’m happy and the conditions are the same for everyone, so I’ll put my best into it and we’ll see what happens!”

Miquel Pons: “Fifth in Jerez for me was good. We need to work on E-Pole to start on the front rows but we improved in every session with the class and on the bike. We worked well with the team all together.

“Here is a new challenge, this is a new track for me. We’ll work with the same focus on good results to make a good E-Pole session, and that’s the key focus.”

Maria Herrera: “I’m really happy because I felt the same feeling as I did in the first year in Jerez. I have an injury now but I’m happy to come back in a good way with the team, the MotoE bike and with the front tyre. But I have to keep working and be faster!

“Right now I don’t have any target because I don’t know how it will feel right now… I’ve only had a week after the surgery and I don’t know more! But for sure my feeling is I just have to start the weekend like always and see how the arm is.”

Eric Granado: “I’m feeling good, very motivated for this race. It was a great weekend in general for me in Jerez, I was very fast in every session and feeling so good with the bike, the feeling with the team is also so good. Unfortunately I made that mistake in the race but I take the good things: we are fast, we have possibilities to fight for the win. So I’ll take the positives, the crash was bad and I was very frustrated with myself because the only thing I shouldn’t have done… I did! But we always learn from our mistakes, I know I will achieve my goals so I’ll keep trying and pushing.

“Everyone here did less laps than Jerez, here will be another story. The conditions here also always change, but for me like always I’ll start the the same mindset, trying to do my best and improve every session, to have a good base with the bike for the race. Like I said in Jerez, my target is to get the maximum  points possible, I’ll do my best like always and I’m sure my moment will arrive.”

That’s it from Thursday, with Free Practice now giving the grid chance to prepare for another few laps of awesome racing. Tune in for E-Pole on Saturday at 16:10 (GMT+2), before the race on Sunday at 10:05.

More, from a press release issued by Energica:

ENERGICA RETURNS TO LE MANS FOR 2021 MOTOE ROUND TWO

Energica has arrived at Le Mans’s ‘Circuit Bugatti’, France, for the second round of the 2021 FIM Enel MotoE World Cup. After a successful season debut in Jerez, leading the standings with his Ego Corsa #61 is Alessandro Zaccone (OCTO Pramac MotoE) who took a stellar maiden MotoE victory for himself and the team, one that placed the young Italian among the early favourites for this year’s crown.

Throughout the years, however, MotoE has proved to be a very unpredictable series, and nobody knows it as well as Eric Granado (One Energy Racing), who crashed out while leading the Jerez encounter; that costly mistake has added some extra pressure to the Brazilian rider, who now has to make up for the ground lost from Zaccone and his other two main rivals Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt IntactGP) and Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) – who rounded out the Andalusian podium in second and third, respectively.

Last year, The #FrenchGP served as the stage for the 2020 season finale, which saw Torres lifting up the championship title after winning the first of two races. Aside from him, none of the current riders ended up on the podium, so this race will be a good chance for many to right the wrongs, starting from Matteo Ferrari (Indonesian E-Racing Gresini MotoE): the 2019 title winner has had a challenging start to the season, but has shown he can be very quick at Le Mans as he claimed second place in the E-Pole here seven months ago.

With no prior testing at this track, the MotoE rookies will have an extra challenge to face, as they will need to find their way around the tricky French circuit while looking for the best set up for their Ego Corsa machines – all with the usual changeable Le Mans weather.

MotoE proceedings will begin tomorrow at 11:50 local time (GMT +2) with Free Practice one.

ABOUT ENERGICA MOTOR COMPANY S.p.A

Energica Motor Company is the first Italian manufacturer of high-performing electric motorcycles and is the single manufacturer chosen by Dorna for the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup. Energica Motorcycles are on sale worldwide.