MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

A sunny Spielberg set the scene for a rookie triumph in the first race of the day in MotoE, Oscar Gutierrez continuing a fantastic weekend in Austria by adding victory to a maiden pole position. However, he didn’t have it all his own way during the 7-lap race, as championship leader Hector Garzo immediately attacked him into the first corner to take control of proceedings. Meanwhile, a mistake at turn 1 saw fellow front-row starter Kevin Zannoni drop down to 8^th position, allowing Miquel Pons, Jordi Torres and a fast-starting Mattia Casadei to join the top 5 early on. Alessandro Zaccone, Zannoni and Eric Granado were close behind, while Matteo Ferrari crashed out at the final corner on the opening lap. 

Although Garzo held onto the lead over the first few laps, he managed to lose a knee slider in a tangle with Gutierrez at turn 1, and briefly lost top spot to Pons, before the feisty Spaniard crashed out at turn 10 on the second lap. While Gutierrez was pushing to catch back up after losing ground in the incident with Garzo, Casadei was left as the main challenger, the Italian making good progress over the first couple of laps from 9th on the grid. Torres, Granado, Zannoni and Zaccone were still holding onto the leaders, while the next group dropped three seconds behind. However, that battle for 8^th place soon turned into a fight for 7^th, once Granado crashed out of the lead group on lap five. 

Garzo eventually had to relinquish the lead as Gutierrez slipstreamed past into turn 1 with two laps remaining and the poleman immediately pushed for a gap. He managed to briefly get half a second of advantage, and although Garzo quickly responded to start the final lap only a couple tenths behind, he ran out of time for an attack and Gutierrez secured victory. Meanwhile, Torres and Casadei were battling it out for 3^rd place one second behind the leaders, but in the end, it was Zannoni who came through after a three-way approach to turn 4. Although Zannoni managed to cross the finish line 3^rd, a penalty for exceeding track limits on the final lap demoted him to 4^th and handed the final podium place to Casadei, giving him a helping hand in his title chase. Torres completed the top 5, with Zaccone fading to 6^th in the closing stages. Andrea Mantovani, Lukas Tulovic, Massimo Roccoli and Maria Herrera completed the top 10 positions, with Nicholas Spinelli just outside. 

The championship picture still has Garzo in the lead, with Gutierrez his main rival 24 points behind. Casadei holds onto 3^rd, with a slightly more sizeable deficit of 29 points, with Zannoni a distant 39.

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