While the 2022 MotoGP season kicked off in Qatar this past weekend, the MotoE World Cup won’t get underway until the opening round at Spain’s Jerez Circuit on May 1, 2022. Despite the late start, the all-electric series will host seven rounds and 14 races this year. That’s a marked increase over the 6 races held in 2019 and the seven-race 2020 and 2021 seasons.
With the new season on the horizon, MotoE teams took to the Jerez track for the first pre-season test of the year on March 7-9, 2022. However, the Lucio Cecchinello Racing (LCR) MotoE team ran into issues before the first session even started when rider Miquel Pons checked into an Andalusian hospital.
"I arrived in Jerez on Sunday and wasn't feeling well, so I went to the doctor," explained Pons. “I ended up having to have an operation on my appendix. That's why I, unfortunately, had to do without the three test days. But now I'm okay and I'll be 100 percent ready for the second test."
That second pre-season test will also take place at the Jerez circuit on April 11-13, 2022. The three-day shakedown will be vital for Pons after missing the first pre-season test, but the 24-year-old rider returned to the Jerez circuit on March 8, 2022, to meet his team and analyze data.
On the other hand, Pons’ teammate Eric Granado was fit to ride at the first Jerez test and recorded the second-fastest time on the first day. Unfortunately, the Brazilian rider high-sided at the final corner in wet condition on the second day, resulting in a partial rupture of his thigh muscle.
“I had it checked in Barcelona and it was nothing too serious,” revealed Granado. “A few weeks and I'll be back!"
After three days of testing, Granado finished third overall in the test, just behind two-time MotoE champ Jordi Torres and 2021 vice-champion Dominique Aegerter. LCR may have experienced bad luck at the opening pre-season test, but it seems like both riders will be back in the saddle for the second go-around in April.
