“Expect a big fight”: MotoE™ riders ready to roll in Jerez

The pre-event Press Conference kicks off the first FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup round of the season

Thursday, 29 April 2021

It’s that time of year again: MotoE™ time! The FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup begins its third season this weekend at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, and the pre-event Press Conference kicked off proceedings. 2020 Cup winner Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) headlined, joined by key rivals Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP), Eric Granado (One Energy Racing), 2019 Cup winner Matteo Ferrari (Indonesian E-Racing Gresini MotoE), newcomer Yonny Hernandez (Octo Pramac MotoE) and the fastest rookie in testing, Fermin Aldeguer (Openbank Aspar Team).

Here is a selection of quotes:

Jordi Torres: “When you arrive to the first race you never know how your rivals are. We only did two tests here in Jerez and we know the track well, it’s perfect but… maybe after, during the year, with different conditions or at a different track with different grip, it is more different. This race I think all the guys are very competitive and aggressive. And I expect to be there, to have a big fight. We’ll see what happens! But for sure we need to improve a bit more because in the test we didn’t have 100% performance. But for sure, during the race we’ll put our balls on the table to be aggressive and to get, if possible, some podiums or try to fight for the victory.”

Torres was one who, like Granado, didn’t seem to push to the maximum in the race simulation in testing:

“For me our best option was to cut the throttle and do a personal test and see how the behaviour of the bike was in that session, because we changed the bike a lot. And we know it’s better to concentrate on our bike than compare to other riders. We are concentrating more riding alone, trying to get a better feeling.”

Dominique Aegerter: “I’m very happy to be back in MotoE; thanks to the team for letting me ride again in this category! We had two great tests in Jerez fighting in front, we made some different changes on the bike and got some new parts from Energica, and tyres and suspension we tested, and laptimes were a bit faster. We made a great step forward and now this weekend here I’m looking forward to practice and E-pole and then the race.

“We know this track well, so many riders and teams have a lot of data and suspension settings and gearing from this track, and we’ll go to two tracks we haven’t ridden before in Assen and Barcelona, so for sure they’ll be some new things to try if the bike works with a similar setup to here in Jere. But here for sure many riders will be very fast and with close laptimes so it’s important to do a good E-Pole lap to start on the first two rows, and in the race to be in the first group, make a good start and not make any mistakes to fight for the podium.”

Eric Granado: “I’m very happy with preseason, we did a great job and I’m really happy with the work we did with my new team. We are in a good way, I’m feeling good on the bike, I have a good package with the team and settings on the bike. Like Jordi and Domi said, this weekend everyone will be fast for sure because we did two tests here, and we have good data and a good feeling after a lot of laps. So it’ll be difficult but I’ll try and do my best, be in the front group if possible and take maximum points every race, work on that every race to arrive at the end of the season with options to fight.”

One of the fastest in MotoE™ since its inception, the Brazilian is now looking to iron 2021 out into a more consistent year:

“I need to work on this this season, I’m focused on those changes and my new team for sure helps me to have more calm at some moments, and don’t always try to be the fastest because consistency is key, as Matteo showed in 2019 and Jordi last year… I’ll work on that, and do my best every race. Let’s say what happens at the end!”

Matteo Ferrari: “First of all I want to thanks MotoGP and the team because we’re here again, the first race of MotoE and I’m really happy about that. The preseason was a bit different compared to last year because last year I finished first, but during the first race here in Jerez I had some difficult points on the track, so I changed my riding style a bit to understand better the tyres and the new front fork during the test. I didn’t push a lot for the laptime but with my team we tried to find the right setting for this race and I think we’re ready. E-Pole will be very important on Saturday, all the riders are very fast and… then we’ll see on Sunday.”

Yonny Hernandez: “At the beginning it was so different for me, especially on the brakes, the bike is heavier. I just tried do a lot of laps, trying to get a feeling with the bike and understand the category. I think the test was positive for us, at the start it was complicated but by the end of the second day of the test I tried to stay more comfortable and I had more feeling with the bike and team. I’ve tried to find a good setup for the race this weekend and just trying to get the feeling and understand it with laps and laps. It’s difficult for me because you don’t have a lot of time to try many things because sessions are short, you can do five or six laps, and this I think isn’t so much time to understand everything but I think we can improve and I’ll do my best and have a good race.”

And what about E-Pole?

“I’ll try to understand the bike better and especially in the first part of the practice, qualifying on one lap for me is something where we need to work more because for me in the test it was difficult for me in the beginning, I don’t use 100% of the tyres, especially at the beginning. When I start to get the feeling, I need more laps but I’ll do my best to have a good qualifying.”

Fermin Aldeguer: “Thanks for the welcome! I feel very good with MotoE. It’s very different but after the first and second practices I felt really good, free practice to practice I improved a lot and I feel good with the bike and the whole team.

“You don’t have gears, only throttle and the brake and that’s very different. The weight is different. It’s very different but I like it!”

So do we! Tune in for the first E-Pole of the season at 16:05 (GMT +2) on Saturday, before the lights go out for the first showdown of 2021 at 10:05 on Sunday morning.

More, from a press release issued by Energica:

ENERGICA AND MOTOE READY FOR 2021 SEASON OPENER AT JEREZ

The 2021 FIM Enel MotoE World Cup is about to get underway from tomorrow at the ‘Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto’ in Southern Spain. After two official three-day sessions performed in early March and mid-April, the 18 Energica Ego Corsa machines are ready to storm once again around the technical and fast-flowing Andalusian circuit.

Three half-hour free practice sessions (two on Friday and one on Saturday morning) will allow teams and riders to prepare for Saturday’s single-lap E-Pole and for Sunday’s race, which will be contested over an improved eight-lap distance.

Reigning MotoE World Cup champion Jordi Torres (Pons 40 Racing) will try his best to defend the title earned last year, but on paper it will not be an easy task for the experienced Spanish rider. Two riders have in fact shown a good degree of dominance so far in 2021, something that did not come as a surprise given their performances in the previous editions of the series: new signing of team One Energy Racing’s Eric Granado and second-year rider Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) have rewritten the unofficial lap track a few times before the end of the April test, with the quickest one now being a 1’47.065 set by the Brazilian star on the final day.

All the aforementioned riders will be in ‘good’ company, though, as rookies Fermin Aldeguer (OpenBank Aspar Team) and Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team) have shown great speed in their first outings aboard their stunning Energica motorcycles, while it is also expected a return to top form by 2019 title winner and 2020 runner-up Matteo Ferrari (Indonesian E-Racing Gresini MotoE). Many other riders will join the battle at the front in what is going to be an electric opening round of the series.

MotoE proceedings will begin tomorrow at 11:50 local time (GMT +2) with Free Practice 1.

Stay tuned via Energica social media and visit www.energicamotor.com in order to keep up to date with the latest news from Jerez and do not forget to listen to the ‘Electrifying Podcast’ for some special episodes about the racing weekend

The podcast is now also available on Spotify and Google Podcast.

ABOUT ENERGICA MOTOR COMPANY S.p.A

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