Kevin Zannoni has finished fifth in the first race, while Jordi Torres has done the same in the second
The Openbank Aspar Team has made a great start to the season in Portugal with a double top five finish. In the first race, Kevin Zannoni has finished fifth and, in the second, Jordi Torres has replicated this result. With these two fifth places and Zannoni's seventh in the second race, the Openbank Aspar Team leaves the first GP of the MotoE World Championship third in the teams’ standings. In the riders' standings, Zannoni is fifth with 20 points, while Torres is eleventh.
Nicholas Spinelli has won the first race of the MotoE season at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The Italian rider, who has started from second on the grid, has crossed the line ahead of Héctor Garzó and defending champion Mattia Casadei. Openbank Aspar Team rider Kevin Zannoni has finished fifth in his debut with the team. The Italian has come from ninth to fifth position to score his first points with the team. Many of the favourites have crashed out, such as pole-sitter Eric Granado or Italian Matteo Ferrari. Openbank Aspar Team rider Jordi Torres has been also unable to finish the first race of the season. The Spanish was riding in fourth position, in the leading group, when Alessandro Zaccone has hit him from behind and they both have crashed, ending Torres' chances in the race.
In the second race, the winner has been the reigning MotoE champion, Mattia Casadei. The Italian has started the last lap from third position, but he has been able to overtake two rivals, Héctor Garzó and Óscar Gutiérrez, to take his first victory of the year. Torres has finished less than a second off victory after riding almost the entire race in fifth position. The Spanish has been able to redeem himself from the incident in the first race, he has been competitive and has opened his points tally for the first time this season. His teammate Kevin Zannoni has finished seventh. The Italian rider is satisfied with the work done in the second race, but believes that the grid position has made the weekend difficult for him and has set himself the goal of improving in the following race weeks in the qualifying sessions.
Kevin Zannoni (5th/7th): "The two races have been positive and we have scored a good amount of points. Although I have finished fifth, I'm not so happy with the first race because I have had some difficulties with the braking. However, I am very satisfied with the second race. I have to improve in qualifying because ninth on the grid compromised the whole weekend. I want to thank the team for all the work they have done these days."
Jordi Torres (crash/5th): "Both races looked good as we had a good pace, but in the first one we have had an incident with one lap to go when we were fourth and I have crashed. I have charged my batteries for the second race, I have started with a lot of motivation, I have fought in every braking and I have been able to be in the front fight. I have been close to the podium, but it wasn't the right time to take risks. The objective was to score points and I have achieved it in the second race."