Casadei strikes in last lap nail-biter to regain the championship lead

The #40 pulled on an impressive lap lap move to win a postponed Race 1 at Mugello ahead of Zaccone and Garzo.

Race 1 for the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Championship gave us unpredictable action from start to finish at the Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo, with Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team) taking victory in spectacular fashion. Casadei now has a six-point lead in the championship after crossing the line to win by just 0.269s ahead of Alessandro Zaccone (Tech3 E-Racing), who led from the start before going head-to-head with the reigning World Champion on the final lap. The last spot on the podium went the way of Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™) who returns to the podium for the first time since Portimao.

In the original start to Race 1, Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE™’s Lukas Tulovic suffered a crash at Bucine on the opening lap. Bringing out the red flag, the race was halted and later rescheduled to take place at 18:40 local time (UTC +2).

The restarted Race 1 got underway with this time Garzo taking the lead as the pack rounded San Donato but, defiant to get the start he needed, Zaccone dived underneath Garzo into Turn 2 to pinch the early lead.

Building up an early gap, Zaccone seemed to have broken the tow of the slipstream. But despite his early advantage, Casadei broke through to the head of the chasing pack and set about chipping away at Zaccone’s advantage. With the gap coming down a fraction each lap, everyone was waiting to see where Casadei would strike.

Flying through the fast Biondetti chicane on the penultimate lap, Casadei chopped Zaccone’s advantage to virtually zero. It placed him perfectly to get the slipstream he so needed to fire into the lead at Turn 1 as the final lap began. Zaccone briefly looked to respond on Casadei but soon realised he also had Garzo to worry about just behind.

In the end it was Casadei who expertly held on for victory, his first since the opening round of the season. But as one champion rejoiced, another grumbled as Jordi Torres (Openbank Aspar Team) would crash out on the final lap while battling for a top 10.

Zaccone’s second place means his three-year wait for victory goes on as Garzo completed the podium for his third of the season. Behind, Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) lost fourth place on the line to Kevin Zannoni (Openbank Aspar Team) as the featherweight Zannoni slipstreamed to the line, crucial extra points for his championship challenge.

Andrea Mantovani (KLINT Forward Factory Team) rounded out a decent weekend with sixth as Massimo Roccoli (Ongetta SIC58 Squadra Corse) once again impressed to take a fine seventh. Further down, 2024 race winners Nicholas Spinelli (Tech3 E-Racing) and Oscar Gutierrez (Axxis-MSI) took 10th and 11th respectively as they’ll look to Assen in the hope good fortunes return.

The next chapter of the season MotoE™ season is not far away and will take place at the historic TT Circuit Assen for another thrilling two races in three weeks’ time, so make sure you join us then for more.

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