MotoE at Mugello: Zannoni & Casadei celebrate home wins, accident for Tulovich

Mattia Casadei and Kevin Zannoni both celebrated home wins at the MotoE races in Mugello, Italy. Casadei only caught Alessandro Zaccone out of the slipstream on the last pass of the start-finish line to secure victory. Zannoni had obviously seen this, used the same manoeuvre in race 2 against the world champion and won. Both decisions were preceded by a serious accident involving German Lukas Tulovich, who had to be hospitalised.

At the start, Alessandro Zaccone was able to defend his pole position against Lukas Tulovich, who had started the race from second place. At the end of the first lap, however, the German crashed in the fast finishing bend and lay motionless on the gravel for a few terrifying moments. The race was stopped so that the emergency services and paramedics could attend to the 23-year-old. He regained consciousness after a few minutes and was transferred to hospital in Florence as a precaution. The initial diagnosis: a bruised neck and lung, a small tear in the lung and a concussion.

The race was restarted at 18:40 local time and therefore took place after the actual Race 2. Hector Garzo got the best start and took the lead at the entrance to turn 1, before Zaccone fought his way back to the front in turn 2. From there, he tried to escape to the front and put a gap between himself and his pursuers. This tactic worked until the end of the penultimate lap, when Mattia Casadei took the lead of the chasing group and made up several tenths on his compatriot in the final sector. Thanks to the strong slipstream, he was able to pass him at the start/finish and secure the race win. Garzo finished third, while Zannoni defended fourth place against Granado.

The result of the 7th MotoE race in Mugello

Position	Rider	Team	Time
1	Mattia Casadei	LCR E-Team	13:37.214 min
2	Alessandro Zaccone	Tech3 E-Racing	+0.269 s
3	Hector Garzo	Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE	+0.514 s
4	Kevin Zannoni	Openbank Aspar Team	+1.408 s
5	Eric Granado	LCR E-Team	+1.443 s
6	Andrea Mantovani	KLINT Forward Factory Team	+2.054 s

 

Race 2: Zannoni vs Casadei

In race 2, Kevin Zannoni once again proved his starting qualities and worked his way up from fifth to first place on the short stretch to the first corner. Casadei and Nicholas Spinelli lined up behind him. The reigning world champion took the lead after just under three laps, while Spinelli dropped back to 5th place after a driving error. A duel then developed between Zannoni and Casadei at the front, which was only to be decided on the final lap. However, Casadei then missed the racing line and had to swerve to the outside, which gave the Italian the opportunity to take the lead again. He defended this spectacularly with everything he had until the finish line.

After his maiden victory in the last race, Zannoni was once again on top in Italy. He thus defended his world championship lead against Casadei, who finished second. Behind him, a chasing group had formed around Eric Granado and Roccoli, who sometimes rode three bikes side by side through the corners in order to finish on the podium. In the end, Granado secured the last place on the podium.

The result of the 8th MotoE race in Mugello

Position	Rider	Team	Time
1	Kevin Zannoni	Openbank Aspar Team	13:37.434 min
2	Mattia Casadei	LCR E-Team	+0.219 s
3	Eric Granado	LCR E-Team	+2.851 s
4	Massimo Roccoli	Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse	+2.862 s
5	Andrea Mantovani	KLINT Forward Factory Team	+3.063 s
6	Alessandro Zaccone	Tech3 E-Racing	+3.168 s