Smith: No choice but attack in MotoE finale

Third in the standings and 24-points from the top, Bradley Smith has 'no choice but to attack' during the Valencia double-header that will decide the inaugural MotoE title.

Podiums in the opening two rounds underlined Smith's status as one of the championship favourites, but a pair of tough races at Misano - including being brought down by Niki Tuuli's accident - saw the Englishman lose ground.

Nonetheless, the short season combined with 50-points being up for grabs this weekend, means no less than 12 riders are still in mathematical title contention!

At the top of the table, Matteo Ferrari takes a 19-point lead into Valencia, with Smith in third, followed by Mike di Meglio (-25 points) and Xavier Simeon (-27 points).

"We arrive in Valencia third in the standings, 24 points behind the leader. We have a chance at the title, although the possibility is small," Smith admitted. "The first two rounds were very positive, but at San Marino we had two tough races, where bad luck and starting far down on the grid played an important role.

"Looking ahead to this final weekend in Valencia, we have no choice but to attack from the beginning and to try to win both races. We will try to be as fast as possible from the first Free Practice onwards, qualify on the front row in the E-Pole session and go for the win in both contests.

"In pre-season I managed to be the fastest in the tests held in Valencia, and it is a track that I like and at which I have always had good results, so hopefully that also helps us in this last round."

Free practice one will be held at 4pm on Thursday, followed by FP2 and E-Pole on Friday. Race one will start at 4:15pm on Saturday and the season finale at 10:05am on Sunday morning.

Smith, who combines MotoE for the One Energy (Sepang) team with Aprilia MotoGP test and wild-card duties, is yet to confirm if he will return to MotoE in 2020.