Matteo Ferrari made it a two-for-two performance by winning MotoE World Championship Race Two Saturday at TT Circuit Assen, in The Netherlands.
Riding his Felo Gresini Ducati electric racebike, the Italian won the seven-lap race by just 0.078 second over Openbank Aspar Team’s Jordi Torres.
HP Pons Los40 rider Mattia Casadei finished third.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Race 2: Ferrari fends off Torres to complete fabulous double at Assen
The Italian rides the wave all the way into summer break, now just eight points off Torres in the standings
After a Race 1 that went almost to the wire, Race 2 most definitely did for the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Championship at the TT Circuit Assen. But once again, Jordi Torres (Openbank Aspar Team) just couldn’t quite get the better of Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE™). The Italian completed the double in style to move within eight points of Torres as the Spaniard was forced to settle for second, with Mattia Casadei (HP Pons Los40) slicing through from P10 to complete the rostrum.
Torres took the holeshot, with Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) slotting into second initially and Ferrari third, and the trio were separated by absolutely nothing as Casadei got to work behind moving up into fourth. Also on the move was Andrea Mantovani (RNF MotoE™ Team) as he got his elbows out to get into the fight for fifth, taking on Randy Krummenacher (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™) and Kevin Zannoni (Ongetta SIC59 Squadra Corse).
There was then drama at the front as Granado tagged the back of Ferrari, the Brazilian staying on and not losing the position but losing some time as the duel ahead then pulled a gap. And that gap stayed there as the race became a two-rider showdown for the win.
What would turn out to be the winning overtake came with four to go as Ferrari pulled an absolute stunner to sweep around Torres and into the lead at Hoge Heide, with the Spaniard then left with the same challenge as Race 1: stay with him. This time around, that he did… on the final lap getting to within possible striking distance. But not without some serious risk, and Torres instead made it a straight shot towards the line, just losing out by 0.078 – and taking those valuable 20 points as Ferrari once again proved impeccably quick with his third win of the year.
Casadei also most definitely impressed, up seven positions from his grid slot and completing the podium. Mantovani suffered a late crash out of podium contention, and Granado took fourth one place ahead of teammate Miquel Pons.
Pons managed to pip Zannoni by the flag, with Alessandro Zaccone (Tech 3 E-Racing) taking P7. Nicholas Spinelli (HP Pons Los40) took eighth ahead of a tough finish for Krummenacher, with Kevin Manfredi (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse) beating Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™) to the final place in the top ten.
That’s a wrap on the first half of the season… and it’s next stop the British GP as the electric field take on Silverstone for the very first time. Torres heads the table by only eight points now… so make sure to come back for more!
