Jordi Torres also crashes in the second MotoE race in Barcelona and loses the World Championship lead to Mattia Casadei – Andrea Mantovani and Nicholas Spinelli in the top 3
Is this the preliminary decision in the fight for the MotoE World Championship title? Jordi Torres (Aspar) crashes while leading in the second race at Barcelona, while World Championship rival Mattia Casadei (Pons) wins and takes the overall lead. Andrea Mantovani (RNF) finishes second. Nicholas Spinelli (Pons) completes the podium.
Already at the start of the seven laps Casadei took the lead ahead of Mantovani. Pole setter Torres was in third place at first, but after a few corners he moved up to second place and got on Casadei’s rear wheel.
In turn 1 of the third lap there was a first attack, as a result of which Torres took the lead. In the next few laps, both exchanged places again and again until not only Torres but also Mantovani slipped through on lap five.
This left Casadei only third. Shortly afterwards he lost another position to Hector Garzo (Intact), who moved up to second and finally inherited the lead when Torres went down in turn 5 of the penultimate lap. It was the second setback for him after the collision with Casadei in the first race.
HIGH DRAMA! @jorditorres81 is out of contention and @hector_garzo inherits the lead CatalanGP pic. twitter.com/VUGfQFWfZr
– MotoE™ (@MotoEofficial) September 2, 2023
After this incident, Garzo’s lead did not last long. At the beginning of the last lap he was swallowed up by Casadei and Mantovani. Shortly before the finish he also lost the duel against Spinelli. Casadei, however, did not let him take the victory – unlike in the first race – and stayed ahead of Mantovani.
Matteo Ferrari (Gresini) was fifth, as in race 1, followed by Miquel Pons (LCR), Kevin Zannoni (SIC58) and Alessandro Zaccone (Tech 3). Randy Krummenacher (Intact) was again ninth. Eric Granado (LCR) completed the top 10.
In the overall standings, Torres lost 25 points to Casadei, who leads by 21 points ahead of the last two MotoE races of the season. Ferrari is just one point behind Torres in third. Garzo is already 44 points behind in fourth place.
