How a new world-class series 'without the bull****' is faring

As the newest addition to Dorna's family of championships sharing the ticket with its main attraction MotoGP, MotoE has inevitably looked like a quirky oddity in its inaugural season - what with its ultra-short calendar, ultra-short races and extremely eclectic grid, the biggest name on which is an ex-MotoGP race winner returning after a decade's hiatus.

Even in the paddock itself it inescapably sticks out like a sore thumb, standing by itself away from the main MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 facilities, its bikes either grouped in the single-building garage tent or at the recharging stations.

A fire that destroyed its fleet of bikes in the pre-season has probably eclipsed anything that's happened in the actual campaign in terms of news value, and was followed by another, much smaller, bike fire once the season got underway.

On the race track though, it has been an impressive technology showcase, the Energica Ego looking every bit as rapid as many of its fuel-guzzling counterparts while forcing many to do a double-take with its near-total lack of sound - standing in stark, futuristic contrast with the constant beehive-like ambiance provided by Moto2 and Moto3.

But while the short calendar and short races give the impression of a glorified tech demo, for the riders and teams involved it appears to be nothing of the sort. Instead, even though it's still in its infancy, MotoE is already clearly legitimate: familiar enough as a racing category, but with enough format twists - necessitated by the current nature of the technology - that never quite cross over into gimmick territory.

Just like its four-wheel counterpart Formula E, MotoE has managed to attract genuine star power from the get-go, both in terms of the team roster - which is made up of established independent outfits from other categories in the grand prix paddock - and the riders.

Sete Gibernau, a MotoGP race winner and title contender in his day, probably stands as the biggest get, but while it can be rightly pointed out that Gibernau had been out of action for a decade before his MotoE sojourn, the same cannot be said for someone like Bradley Smith - who was a factory KTM MotoGP rider the year before his debut in the electric series, and could very well return to being one in 2020.

Other former MotoGP riders Alex de Angelis, Randy de Puniet and Xavier Simeon have served to add legitimacy too, but have only achieved medium-to-low levels of success. Five races in, Mike di Meglio is the only ex-MotoGP racer among MotoE's race winners, and the electric series' inaugural champion is unlikely to be one with prior premier-class experience.

Is this because the Energica Ego Corsa is such a radically different beast to other bikes available to riders in established racing categories? Not necessarily.

The Ego Corsa tips the scales at 260kg, meaning it's far heavier than other machinery at MotoGP events. Aside from the implications for the riding style, this means the bike is one you particularly don't want to crash

"The nice thing about it is it's a motorcycle, it behaves like a motorcycle - how you brake into a corner, how it corners, the reaction from the front to the rear," Smith says. "It feels like a motorcycle, you use normal motorcycle lines.

"From an engineering point of view, the guys at Energica built something awesome. They clearly understood chassis stiffnesses, geometry, weight balance, all that type of stuff.

"The nice thing is that, considering what I do for a job now in terms of a test rider for Aprilia and here, it's kind of very similar - within 5-10%. So it makes it easier to adapt."

For Simeon, who had made a career as a Moto2 veteran before a brief stint in the Avintia Ducati MotoGP team, there are only a couple of major technique deviations. "You don't have the same engine brake, so you don't have the same feeling when you brake," he says. "Also, the noise, when you accelerate, you never know how many RPM you are [at]. The power comes from 0-100% in one time, and it's difficult to manage."

Another byproduct of the lack of noise is that it makes it harder for riders to judge where their rivals are relative to themselves on track.

"You don't hear anybody, you don't know if you're alone," Simeon continues. "If somebody is behind, and sometimes when you feel somebody behind, maybe you ride differently, but here you never know, so you have one thing in mind that's, 'Fuck, I'm alone, I'm not alone, with somebody, not with somebody'. This is more difficult to manage."

Simeon makes it clear, however, that he otherwise finds racing the Energica to be perfectly normal, with the handling potentially being "even better than a normal bike".

But while both Simeon and Smith have usually figured towards the sharp end, De Puniet has struggled to get his head around the Ego Corsa, saying it felt "completely different" to ride as "you have a lot of weight on the front with the battery".

Apart from the lack of noise, the weight has been the category's distinguishing feature. This bike has the scales pointing at around 260kg, meaning it's significantly heavier than the rest of the machinery entertaining the public during grand prix weekends.

Aside from the implications for the riding style, this means the Ego Corsa is one bike you particularly don't want to crash - as was evidenced at the season opener, as the race was called after just five laps when Eric Granado's Avintia-run machine demolished the barrier. When a multi-bike shunt happened at Misano, it left Ajo rider Niki Tuuli with fractures to his left wrist and femur.

"This bike is very heavy, it's 260kg, and you have in mind that it's nearly forbidden to crash," Simeon says. "I'm always [riding] with a bit of margin to avoid crashes. And what we saw in the [Misano] race, it's normally that kind of thing with that bike shouldn't happen, a multi-rider crash. This is racing, but for sure it's a little bit more scary than normal bike [racing].

"When you are racing you never know what happens in the mind of the rider. We are racing, you cannot say to a rider that he cannot attack. So, the only thing is that for example race control can say, 'Be careful, these bikes are heavier, when you crash together you have more possibility to make big injury'. But when it's racing you can never say to a rider that he cannot push to the maximum."

"Why make our races longer? People don't want our races to end, so great. Tune in at the next weekend and we'll be doing exactly the same" Bradley Smith

When it comes to the races, riders have no choice but to "push to the maximum", because the current small lap counts - a consequence of battery capacity - make the races feel more like rallycross heats.

A few riders admit that they would appreciate some extra race distance once the battery becomes more robust, yet Smith believes that bringing it closer to other categories could rob MotoE of one of its unique selling points.

"We're here to provide something different to MotoGP and Moto2," Smith argues. "We're not waiting for a race to build up and build up and come down to a five-lap finale - we are a five-lap finale.

"I think some of the best [MotoGP] races from the past have been the ones that have been stopped just under two-thirds, which means they had five laps [to go] and it's ready, steady, go for five laps, and that's some of the most exciting stuff.

"We're already lacking noise, which some people says lacks a bit of buzz and excitement. So why make our races longer? Why not keep them action-packed and keep them exciting for everybody, and keep people wanting more? People don't want our races to end, so great. Tune in at the next weekend and we'll be doing exactly the same."

The battery restriction naturally doesn't just impact the races, but makes the whole weekend mileage-limited. Across three practice sessions, qualifying and the race in Austria, Di Meglio logged a total of 36 laps, whereas in MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 most riders had already covered more on Friday alone.

"The approach of the category is very, very different compared to other categories because you don't have the time to think, 'Yeah, I take six laps to take the rhythm', you have to be on the rhythm from the first corner, you have to have confidence, you have to understand everything directly," Simeon says. "This kind of concept also makes the category different - for me it's a good thing."

"It makes you sharp, puts a bit of pressure, puts a bit of fire underneath your arse at times," agrees Smith. "Sometimes you need that."

This relative lack of practice mileage has an obvious effect on qualifying, which is further complicated by MotoE's one-shot format, a much bigger rarity in bike racing than its four-wheel counterpart.

"You have to be very focused on yourself," Simeon explains. "It's not like other categories when you can have a slipstream, you can have other help. Here it's you against you, and this makes the brain work better, because you have to prove in one shot that you can be fast and not make any mistakes."

"There's so much pressure on it," echoes Smith. "If you crash you start at the back. If you jump the pitlane [lights] and go too early you start at the back."

"When you are really confident with the bike, it's easy because you can push, you know exactly where you are," de Puniet says. "But if you are in my situation, it's the worst, because you need laps to feel better, and in one lap I'm always almost one second slower [than practice]."

All these quirks certainly contribute to an overall image of MotoE being smaller-scale, and it's one that's further reinforced when you see the small crews that work with these bikes.

But a smaller scale doesn't translate to a lack of professionalism, and the competition in MotoE has become more and more fierce as the season has developed. In qualifying last time out at Misano, the top eight riders were split by just over four tenths of a second. In MotoGP that same weekend, that figure stood at one second sharp.

"I think in Sachsenring I was seventh, but 1.2s from the pole position, and [at Misano] I'm seventh and 0.3s [away]," Smith says. "So it's a completely different level, but it makes it exciting.

"The thing is it's world-class level. So, it's world-class level but without kind of all the bullshit that goes with it, which is kind of nice. Exactly the same bikes, exactly the same opportunities, same tyres, same everything. Two mechanics and a rider, turn up and do the best you can with as limited track time as they can possibly give you."

Much like its race weekends, the inaugural MotoE season itself has been compact - by design, primarily, and then more so as a consequence of the pre-season fire. With four races in the books, only the double-header at Valencia remains to decide its first-ever champion.

And while the likes of Di Meglio, Smith and Simeon will head to Valencia with an outside chance, the crown is lesser-known Gresini rider Matteo Ferrari's to lose, after the Italian swept the Misano round to establish a 19-point buffer.

Many of the riders in MotoE would appreciate a longer schedule - in particular those who do not have full-time 2020 gigs lined up elsewhere - but the series has already unveiled a provisional calendar for next year that will again comprise just six races.

For now, this may help it retain some of its star riders who have options or commitments elsewhere. "Of course, if I can continue MotoE, I will do it, I really enjoy riding - but of course I want to also ride something else," says Tuuli.

All the format eccentricities are a byproduct of the circumstances of the technology, yet they give the series something that many other championships cannot really boast - a clear identity

For Smith, continuing is also contingent on other factors. "Right now I'm very lucky to be doing what I'm doing. I have a tremendous job with Aprilia. I think all in all this year I'm gonna have ridden a MotoGP bike for over 50 days - I think riding it for one day is people's dream.

"I'm certainly keen to continue, and I think One Energy is as well. So once we're able to sit [down and evaluate] my Aprilia contract and commitments, and the One Energy commitments, then we can commit to this."

But should KTM turn to Smith as its full-time replacement for Johann Zarco in MotoGP in 2020, he will have no way of continuing in MotoE - and with Gibernau's mind set on dropping out after 2019 and de Puniet (pictured below) unwilling to continue if he doesn't make big strides at Valencia, the series risks losing a fair chunk of star power.

At the same time, there are promising riders on the grid that the series can make its own, especially if it moves to an expanded calendar.

One such is Maria Herrera, the sole female competitor on the grid, who once starred in the CEV Moto3 category in Spain but has not managed to gain a foothold in either Moto3 or various World Superbike support categories.

"I want to do more races in the future because you can improve with the bike, with the setting - because we can't ride too much with this kind of bike," Herrera says.

Asked if the series could be her full-time home in racing one day, Herrera says: "I think it's the future. I like to speak with Energica every race, I think they are good professionals in the development of this bike. I'd like to be in this paddock, for sure, in the future."

In the end, the legitimacy of MotoE, at least for as long as it's a single-make series, should hinge on its riders first and foremost - on whether it is able to nurture the likes of Herrera, Tuuli and Ferrari, while continuing to attract established names.

That would make all the series' format eccentricities an easier sell to racing purists, which is good because they are something worth selling. The short calendar, the short races, the one-shot qualifying, the desperately limited mileage, all of these are a byproduct of the circumstances of the technology, yet they give the series something that many other championships cannot really boast - a clear identity.

The inaugural season has been a proof of concept and, save for a couple of safety questions that only the tech and rider safety experts are really equipped to answer, the concept seems to have been proven.