Matteo Ferrari gritted his teeth to fight back from slipping to third early on to complete the MotoE Dutch TT double at Assen, Round of 4 of the 2023 MotoE World Championship.

The Italian was made to work hard for a repeat of his victory earlier in the day during race one after losing out in the shuffle through the opening turns.

But once he'd made his move stick on Eric Granado for second, he quickly hunted down leader Jordi Torres before executing a superb high-speed overtake at Hoge Heide with four laps remaining to grab a lead he'd cling onto until the finish.

Indeed, championship leader Torres might have fancied his chances initially as an excellent start earned him the hole-shot into turn one, while an equally fast getaway from Granado allowed him to nose into the right-hander ahead of Ferrari.

While Granado rallied against the leader briefly, with the Brazilian's attention soon consumed by Ferrari champing at his tail, Torres was able to eke out a decent buffer to the feuding pair behind.

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To Granado's credit, he proved a difficult adversary for the clearly faster Ferrari to overtake but the Gresini rider would finally make his way through with an slick block pass that started at Turn 3 and was completed by Turn 4.

In clear air, Ferrari was able to unleash his true pace, so much so it didn't take long for the that immediate air to be filled with the Aspar of Torres out front. He wouldn't waste time in relieving Torres of the lead either, the Italian choosing the element of surprise on the fast flick from right-to-left at Hoge Heide with just over three laps to go for his overtake.

While the switch of position sparked Torres into a fighting back, Ferrari had him covered in a sprint to the line to complete his third victory of the season by +0.078

Mattia Casadei completed the podium after another strong fight back from tenth on the grid, though the Italian did benefit from a last lap crash for Andrea Mantovani who, having impressed with some fine overtakes en route to holding a provisional podium spot, threw it away coming round Mandeven for the final time.

Others to benefit included Granado, who rebounded back to fourth having faded from his earlier victory challenge, while Miquel Pons scored his best finish of the season in fifth after getting a late pass completed on Kevin Zannoni.

Similarly, Alessandro Zaccone earned seventh at the final corner to deny Nicholas Spinelli, with the top ten rounded out by Randy Krummenacher - the Swiss rider struggling in race two following his race one podium - and Kevin Manfredi.

Now the winningest rider in the field, victory helps Ferrari negate his costly DNF back in round one, the 2019 MotoE World Cup winner just eight points shy of the more consistent Torres up ahead with four rounds remaining.

Either way, Ferrari and Torres' double 1-2 respectively in the Netherlands all but lifts the pair clear of the chasing pack in the fight for this year's title, with third place man Hector Garzo - who could only manage a seventh and 11th at Assen - now 46 points back in third.

MotoE Dutch TT Assen | RACE 2 Results