Nicholas Spinelli wins the first MotoE race at Le Mans! The Italian from the Tech3 team prevailed against Eric Granado, Kevin Zannoni and Mattia Casadei. Pole sitter Garzo crashed in turn three. Casadei defended third place until the last corner against Jordi Torres and Andrea Mantovani. Lukas Tulovic has to settle for eleventh place after a ride into the run-off zone during the first lap.
MotoE in Le Mans – the racing film
Starting lineup: 1. Garzo, 2. Spinelli, 3. Granado, 4. Casadei, 5. Gutierrez, 6. Torres, 7. Zaccone, 8. Pons, 9. Tulovic, 10. Zannoni, 11. Mantovani, 12. Finello, 13. Manfredi, 14. Ferrari, 15. Roccoli, 16. Davies, 17. Herrera, 18. Pontone
Begin: Chaz Davies stops and has technical problems. Everyone else gets through the first few corners cleanly. Garzo defended the lead from Spinelli and Casadei.
1 round: Lukas Tulovic comes off the track in turn five and takes the emergency exit. This means that the German probably has no chance of winning the fight for points.
2nd round: Spinelli goes on the attack and overtakes Garzo in turn three. Two corners later, Casadei slips through and pushes Garzo into third place. Meanwhile, Miquel Pons falls over the front wheel.
3rd round:Massimo Roccoli falls. In turn three there is a collision between Eric Granado and Alessandro Zaccone. Zaccone falls and is clearly upset by the Brazilian’s maneuver.
4th round: Garzo and Spinelli fight hard and duel in the first two corners. Overthrow Garzo! The pole sitter crashes at the apex of turn three. This means Kevin Zannoni moves up to third place.
5th round: Spinelli has opened up a bit of a lead over Casadei. There is about half a second between the two. Zannoni is now putting pressure on Casadei.
6th round: Zannoni starts maneuvering in turn ten, Casadei counters. Both repeat the game. Casadei prevails for now and claims P2.
7th round: In turn one, Zannoni moves back into second place. Now Jordi Torres and Matovani are also stuck at the Italian’s rear. Who will secure the places on the podium? At the front, Spinelli has now escaped by more than a second.
8th round: Zannoni goes into the final lap ahead of Casadei and Torres. Torres tries a maneuver in turn three, but Casadei closes the door and defends cleverly. Zannoni can gain a few meters on his opponents.
Finish line: Nicjolas Spinelli wins! Kevin Zannoni came second ahead of Mattia Casadei, who was able to defend himself against Jordi Torres’ late attacks. Andrea Mantovani came fifth ahead of Eric Granado and Oscar Gutierrez. Matteo Ferrari, Alessio Finello and Kevin Manfredi complete the top ten. Lukas Tulovic only finished eleventh after a ride through the run-off zone in the first lap.