The FIM Enel MotoE™ World Championship resumed on Friday after a long break at the Red Bull Ring, with the Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich hosting the penultimate round of the electric championship. Respectively 5th and 6th in the championship after six rounds, Italian Alessandro Zaccone and Nicholas Spinelli were looking to score a maximum of points this weekend to try finishing the season in the best way possible.
Alessandro Zaccone was back on his electric Ducati after five long weeks without MotoE™, and he was eager to take things where he left them. As usual, the electric class was the first one to open the ball on Friday morning with Practice 1, a session ended by Zaccone in 7th, 0.5 secs off the top. The #61 got himself his Q2 ticket at the end of the Practices with a sixth place overall with a best lap in 1’36.658. On the other side, Nicholas Spinelli struggled a bit more to get back into the rhythm, and he finished Practices in P14, 1.075 seconds from the fastest lap, meaning that he had to go through qualifying 1 later on in the afternoon.
While grey clouds started to cover the Red Bull Ring at the end of the afternoon, the electric action resumed with the qualifying sessions. Spinelli was amongst the contenders for Q2, and the Italian started the session well as we saw him take the provisional lead with a 1’38.632 after three laps. Eventually, his opponents improved, leaving the Tech3 E-Racing rider with less than 2 minutes to make it back to the front two. Unable to improve, Spinelli finished 4th of the session, qualifying in 12th on the grid. Teammate Zaccone was the final chance of the Tech3 crew to qualify well. The competition was high and close in the final qualifying shootout. The Italian’s best was a 1’38.430, one lap that placed him 8th on the grid. Don’t miss the two electric races on Saturday as Zaccone and Spinelli will look to take strong starts as they hope to score points to remain in the battle for the top 5 in the championship.
Grid Position: 8
Time: 1'38.430
Laps: 6
"The feeling was not there this morning, but we made some good steps as the day went by, and in the end, I felt much better in qualifying. The grid position is not great, but we will see how the races go, we will try to take a good start, be opportunist, and see what happens."
Grid Position: 12
Time: 1'38.632
Laps: 5
"Disappointed with our day, the feeling was not good all day long, and it resulted in a bad grid position. The two races will be very difficult, starting from 12th, it will be tough to make it to the front, but we will see how the two races go, and try to get the best of these."
