Granado beats Smith, Ferrari seals MotoE title
Full Valencia MotoE Race 2 results
Eric Granado has capped a double victory at the MotoE finale in Valencia by beating Bradley Smith in a thrilling last lap, as Matteo Ferrari held his nerve to take fifth place and with it the MotoE World Cup.
After Smith made the perfect getaway to lead, Granado kept in close contention against the One Energy Racing rider before making his final-lap attack.
Full Valencia MotoE Race 2 results
Eric Granado has capped a double victory at the MotoE finale in Valencia by beating Bradley Smith in a thrilling last lap, as Matteo Ferrari held his nerve to take fifth place and with it the MotoE World Cup.
After Smith made the perfect getaway to lead, Granado kept in close contention against the One Energy Racing rider before making his final-lap attack.
The Avintia Esponsorama Racing rider initially dived up the inside at Turn 8 before Smith fought back at Turn 11 as the pair traded overtakes.
But knowing it was all-or-nothing and needing to win the race to stand any chance of stealing the MotoE title from Ferrari, Smith made a bold inside charge at the final corner but he couldn’t get his braking done which allowed Granado to charge back past to take his second win of the weekend.
With Smith in second, Hector Garzo recovered from a poor start to complete the podium after being disqualified from Race 1 due to a tyre pressure infringement.
Despite seeing Alex de Angelis skate ahead to take fourth place for Octo Pramac MotoE, Ferrari held on to fifth place to secure the inaugural MotoE riders’ title with the Trentino Gresini MotoE team.
Mike Di Meglio claimed sixth place for EG 0,0 Marc VDS in front of Sete Gibernau who retires for the second time after his brief comeback in MotoE with Join Contract Pons 40.
Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse), Nicolas Terol (Openbank Angel Nieto Team) and Jesko Raffin (Dynavolt Intact GP) rounded out the top 10 in the 2019 finale.
Xavier Simeon and Josh Hook tangled on the opening lap at Turn 4 which sent both riders out of the race while further back Niccolo Canepa suffered a nasty highside coming out of Turn 4.