MotoE at Le Mans: Jordi Torres & Matteo Ferrari win season-opening races 2023

Jordi Torres (Openbank Aspar Team) and Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE) won the two races at the MotoE season opener. In particular, the Spanish double champion Torres confirmed his good form from the tests: He leads the overall standings of the electric series, which officially became an FIM World Championship this season, with a win and a second place. At Le Mans, the new bikes from Ducati were used for the first time.

The bikes from Ducati have less power and less torque, but they are significantly lighter. As a result, lap times fell by about three seconds over the course of the weekend compared to the previous lap record. Matteo Ferrari secured pole position for both races, but lost it to Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) on the first lap of each race.

In Race 1, a two-way battle for the lead developed in the early stages of the race, with Ferrari and Garzo regularly swapping positions several times. In the middle of the race, several crashes happened with the new Ducati bikes. First, rookie Nicholas Spinelli (HP Pons Los40) missed the apex in turn 11 and slid straight into the gravel. Just a few corners later, Andrea Mantovani (RNF MotoE Team), Miquel Pons (LCR E Team) and Mattia Casadei (HP Pons Los40), who were battling for the podium, and Ferrari, who was second at the time, were also caught after one of the many maneuvers against Garzo.

So the contenders for the podium positions had thinned out considerably after lap 6 of 8. At the top, Hector Garzo was now dueling with Jordi Torres. Behind them, rookie Randy Krummenacher was in an excellent third place, defending the Dynavolt double podium against Kevin Zannoni (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse). While the Italian was unable to set any more maneuvers, Torres did not miss the chance to win the race from the slipstream after the final pass on the start-finish straight.

Result of the 1st MotoE race at Le Mans

Ferrari dominates in race 2

Garzo also won the start on Sunday against Ferrari, who however failed to comply with the track limits on the last lap and was penalised with a long lap penalty. The Felo-Gresini rider now had three laps to serve it. However, he decided to push in order to lose fewer positions. With an impressive performance, he put several seconds between himself and his pursuers in no time at all and thus only dropped back to third position after serving the penalty.

Then the season 1 champion wanted even more. He started a chase against Torres and Garzo and was able to overtake both as the race progressed. In the end, he crossed the finish line in a well-deserved first place. However, Torres and Garzo are ahead of the Italian in the overall MotoE standings as they finished on the podium in both races. The next points in MotoE will be awarded at Mugello on 11 June 2023.

Result of the 2nd MotoE round in Le Mans

MotoE: Championship standings after the 2nd round in Le Mans