MotoE: Zaccone wins Season Opener in Jerez as Granado crashes out

Alessandro Zaccone clinched his first MotoE victory in the opening race of the season in Jerez.

The Italian gained the lead when Eric Granado crashed out and made no mistake to bring the result over the line.

Behind him, Dominique Aegerter held reigning champion Jordi Torres at bay to secure second.

Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP) attempted a move round the outside of polesitter Eric Granado (One Energy Racing) to take the lead at T1, but it was Lukas Tulovic (Tech 3 E-Racing) who sneaked past inside to head the field out of the corner.

The riders bunched up into T6, bringing Alessandro Zaccone (Octo Pramac MotoE) and Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) into the mix. Granado prevailed to hit the front and with Zaccone separating him from Aegerter, the Brazilian tried to capitalise and stretch out an advantage.

The race ended prematurely for Tulovic and Fermín Aldeguer (OpenBank Aspar Team) on the second lap when they clashed at T6 and both went down, leaving a leading group of four with Granado, Zaccone, Aegerter and Torres.

Granado had his head down and set a new lap record to open up an advantage. However, disaster struck on lap 4 when an unforced error brought him down at T6.

Zaccone inherited the lead and was shadowed by Aegerter who gradually started to threaten for P1.

A twitch at T5 for Aegerter gave Zaccone the breathing space he needed to secure his first MotoE victory while the Swiss rider held Torres behind him for second.