After more than a month of break following the opening round in Portimao, the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Championship resumed this weekend in France, kicking off the first of five rounds in a row of electric action. Tech3 E-Racing’s Nicholas Spinelli and Alessandro Zaccone finally reunited with their respective Ducati V21L for the team’s home race, and after both qualifying directly for Q2 in the morning, Spinelli went on to take the second position on the grid ahead of tomorrow’s races, while Zaccone qualified in seventh.
Winner of the opening race in Portimao, Italian Nicholas Spinelli also managed to become a WorldSBK™ race winner in Assen in the middle, after he replaced Danilo Petrucci in the Dutch round! Congratulations Nicholas. As MotoE™’s #29 got back on track this morning, he was amongst the fastest very quickly. Fourth of Practice 1 with a lap in 1’41.346, he improved to 1’40.507 in the second practice, which saw him take third in the combined classification, and qualify directly for the final qualifying stage later on in the afternoon. In qualifying, Spinelli continued to show good form and willingness to do well in Le Mans. Lap 4/6 was his fastest of the shootout, in 1’40.026, but that was just 0.031 seconds too short from the pole position. The Italian will start both Saturday’s races from second, as he aims to score important points for the championship, and why not bring Tech3 E-Racing a second win this season?
Alessandro Zaccone was also extremely happy to finally reunite with his team, and times could tell! The Bugatti circuit being a layout that he quite enjoys, the Italian managed to top Practice 2 with a lap in 1’40.269, meaning that he was fastest of the practice sessions, and just like his teammate, headed straight to Q2. The feeling continued to be decent for Zaccone in qualifying. Just like his teammate, lap 4/6 was his fastest, in 1’40.316. In the last flying lap, the #61 was improving all his sectors, but could not complete the perfect lap after he was slowed down by another rider on track. Bittersweet feeling for the Italian rider, who will start in seventh on Saturday, however, the work achieved today will give him confidence to fight for the big points. Don’t miss the two electric races of the French Grand Prix, at 12:15 local time (GMT+2), and 16:10!
Grid Position: 2
Time: 1'40.026
Laps: 7
"I am happy to get this second first row after the one in Portugal, we did a good job today with the team. The feeling on this track is great this year, which I am happy about because last year we did not feel good. We have two important races tomorrow, it is important to take big points for the championship. Everyone is really close here, so the races will be difficult, especially at the start, but after a few laps, this is where we will need to be smart, and make the difference."
Grid Position: 7
Time: 1'40.316
Laps: 7
"I am not really happy with our qualifying performance because our plan was to go faster lap after lap because it is taking me two-three laps to get into it. Towards the end, I was in my best lap, improving all the sectors, but there was another rider stuck in the middle of the track, and I lost all the advantages I had in the final sector. I think we could have gone for the first row today, but it is what it is. We have pace to fight for a podium, so our goal for the races will be to take a strong start, stay with the front at the beginning, and then we will be able to fight for points."
