Spanish MotoGP: Granado dominates MotoE opener in Jerez

Eric Granado lived up to high expectations to take a dominant victory in the opening round of the 2020 MotoE World Cup in Jerez, easing away from the opposition to win by more than three seconds.

The Brazilian racer, who emerged as the rider to beat during the latter half of the 2019 campaign, has been in formidable form throughout the Spanish weekend on the Avintia Energica, topping all practice sessions and holding a comfortable margin in qualifying.

While he didn’t quite get the hole-shot in the run up to turn one after rookie Lukas Tulovic instead got the better of him, Granado was ahead again by the end of the opening lap.

With the race reduced from seven to six laps, Granado simply stretched clear, lapping faster than his qualifying benchmark to cross the line well clear of his rivals. Together with his double win in Valencia at the tail end of 2019, it means he has now won three races in a row.

Last year’s champion Matteo Ferrari lifted himself up to second position to get his title defence off to a strong start, holding off the attentions of Dominique Aegerter, who was the only rider to match Granado for pace but left himself with too much to do when a bad start dropped him to seventh at one stage.

Tulovic held on for fourth on his MotoE debut, ahead of Mattia Casadei, who raised two positions on the final lap when Jordi Torres and Alejandro Medina took each other wide ahead of him. Josh Hook and Mike di Meglio completed the top ten.