Zaccone, Aegerter, Casadei, Pons, Herrera and Granado get ready for Round 2 in France
It’s a short turnaround before Round 2 of the 2021 FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup and before track action got underway at Le Mans, Jerez winner and therefore points leader Alessandro Zaccone (Octo Pramac MotoE) was joined in the pre-event Press Conference by second-placed Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP), Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse’s Mattia Casadei fresh from fourth place, top five finisher and rookie Miquel Pons (LCR E-Team), Maria Herrera (Openbank Aspar Team) and Jerez E-pole sitter Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) to talk shop ahead of lights out.
Here are some key quotes:
Alessandro Zaccone: “I feel very good, I feel strong and I feel very good with the team. We started the season in a great way and did a really good job in winter testing and in the first race weekend. I think we start here with a good base. For sure here it’ll be more difficult because I don’t know the track very well, but we’ll try to do our best.
“Here the weather will be different to Jerez, I’ve tried the MotoE bike once in the wet, here last year, but I don’t have a target. I’ll try to be as fast as possible and we’ll see during the weekend!”
Dominique Aegerter: “Jerez was quite a good weekend, it’s very important to finish the race with 20 points. In a short Championship we saw last year it’s important finish every race near the front. I’m looking forward to this weekend, I know the track from last year, we had a practice in the wet …we’ll see how the conditions will be but we’re in a good way, we have a good set up, the team are doing a great job and I feel ready to fight for a good position again.
“I think the most important is to have a lot of luck! To bring with you in the race, because I was quite unlucky last year when I got taken off at the first chicane. I think the MotoE race with short distance and no real Warm Up lap it’s hard to stand up on Sunday morning and be focused with the feeling immediately on the bike. Riders need to concentrate and be careful at the first chicane and on the first lap with the weight of the bike. But it’s important to stay in front, the first three places on the grid are important to have a clear start. E-Pole is always something special, you can’t make any mistakes and go out the track limits or crash, otherwise you start behind, so you need to always maximise it but minimise the risk you take.”
Mattia Casadei: “I’m happy because in the race in Jerez we tried a lot of new things on the bike and we’ll see, it’s better. In the race I had a good rhythm, the same as the three guys in front and we’ll see what happens here! I’m ready.
“Last year here was very bad for me! But this year, I’m happy and the conditions are the same for everyone, so I’ll put my best into it and we’ll see what happens!”
Miquel Pons: “Fifth in Jerez for me was good. We need to work on E-Pole to start on the front rows but we improved in every session with the class and on the bike. We worked well with the team all together.
“Here is a new challenge, this is a new track for me. We’ll work with the same focus on good results to make a good E-Pole session, and that’s the key focus.”
Maria Herrera: “I’m really happy because I felt the same feeling as I did in the first year in Jerez. I have an injury now but I’m happy to come back in a good way with the team, the MotoE bike and with the front tyre. But I have to keep working and be faster!
“Right now I don’t have any target because I don’t know how it will feel right now… I’ve only had a week after the surgery and I don’t know more! But for sure my feeling is I just have to start the weekend like always and see how the arm is.”
Eric Granado: “I’m feeling good, very motivated for this race. It was a great weekend in general for me in Jerez, I was very fast in every session and feeling so good with the bike, the feeling with the team is also so good. Unfortunately I made that mistake in the race but I take the good things: we are fast, we have possibilities to fight for the win. So I’ll take the positives, the crash was bad and I was very frustrated with myself because the only thing I shouldn’t have done… I did! But we always learn from our mistakes, I know I will achieve my goals so I’ll keep trying and pushing.
“Everyone here did less laps than Jerez, here will be another story. The conditions here also always change, but for me like always I’ll start the the same mindset, trying to do my best and improve every session, to have a good base with the bike for the race. Like I said in Jerez, my target is to get the maximum points possible, I’ll do my best like always and I’m sure my moment will arrive.”
That’s it from Thursday, with Free Practice now giving the grid chance to prepare for another few laps of awesome racing. Tune in for E-Pole on Saturday at 16:10 (GMT+2), before the race on Sunday at 10:05.
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