Dominqiue Aegerter wins nail-biting Assen blockbuster
It's the third MotoE win of the season for Dynavolt Intact GP Team's Dominique Aegerter, but it's arguably his most brilliant yet. With tenacity and finesse, the Swiss out-bid Mattia Casadei before the final chicane at Assen, taking a hair-raising victory in front of thousands of raucous fans.
The start of the 8-lap sprint race was not ideal at first, as it seemed that the Swiss was losing some positions. But already coming out of turn 1, Dominique Aegerter was back in secondposition, right behind Matteo Ferrari, who in turn tried to lead the race.
There were many overtaking manoeuvres in the first four laps, in which the 31-year-old dropped back to fourth at times, but with three laps remaining, Aegerter was back to his old self. With almost unbelievable corner speed, he sneaked past his fiercely fighting rivals on the brakes, sometimes on the inside, sometimes on the outside, and even managed to close the small gap of 0.3s to Eric Granado, who had temporarily taken over the lead in this battle of six.
The final two laps, however, amounted to a blockbuster. Hardly a blade fitted between the Swiss and the Brazilian when both suddenly went wide and Mattia Casadei emerged as the laughing leader. But Aegerter didn't let that happen for long and so the routinier manoeuvred himself closer to the Italian, turn by turn, to then launch a daring attack in the penultimate turn, passing Casadei on the outside line, reaching the famous final chicane as the leader and finally crossing the line as the deserved winner.
Goosebumps and heart rates at dizzying rates, this is MotoE in 2022 and the thrilling title battle moves on to the next round tomorrow, Sunday. With another win under his belt, the Dynavolt Intact GP rider will take a 34-point lead over Granado into the second battle at the Dutch TT, which starts at 15:30 (CEST).
Race 1
1. Dominique AEGERTER/ SWI
2. Eric GRANADO/ BRA (+0.072)
3. Mattia CASADEI/ ITA (+0.081)
MotoE World Cup
1. AEGERTER Dominique / SWI / 148
2. GRANADO Eric / BRA / 114
3. FERRARI Matteo / ITA / 106
4. CASADEI Mattia/ ITA/ 90
5. PONS Miquel / SPA / 79
6. CANEPA Niccolo/ ITA / 65
7. GARZO Hector / SPA / 56
8. OKUBO Hikari / JPN / 55
9. ZANNONI Kevin/ ITA/ 45
