The Japanese rider makes his E-Pole debut and qualifies on the fourth row of the grid for the Round 1 of the FIM MotoE World Cup: the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Jerez-Angel Nieto Circuit hosted the first qualifying day in the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup season, in which Avant Ajo MotoE enjoyed a solid performance. Hikari Okubo had one last Free Practice before facing his first E-Pole run, in which he showed his positive adaptation to the electric racing competition. The Japanese rider finished in 11th position and will start the Spanish Grand Prix race from the fourth row of the grid.

In FP3, Okubo continued to take steps forward, lowering his personal best from Friday by more than 8 tenths. He finished the session 11th thanks to a time of 1:48.835, earned on his penultimate lap out of a total of 7. The Japanese drew positive conclusions from the practice, in which he worked hard with his Avant Ajo MotoE team to gain valuable knowledge and experience.

The rookie took part in E-Pole for the first time, going out on track in seventh place. The Japanese rider pushed hard over the single lap to clock a 1:49.026, taking him to 11th position on the grid for his debut FIM MotoE World Cup race.

The contest itself takes place over 8 laps from 10:05 AM, local time, tomorrow at the Jerez-Angel Nieto Circuit.

Results – E-Pole

1. Eric Granado 1:47.778
2. Lukas Tulovic 1:48.012 +0.234
3. Fermin Aldeguer 1:48.293 +0.515
4. Dominique Aegerter 1:48.373 +0.595
5. Alessandro Zaccone 1:48.378 +0.600
11. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 1:49.026 +1.248

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“It was a tough day for me. I tried to give one hundred percent, but having just one lap is difficult. We finally qualified in eleventh position on Sunday’s starting grid. Although I’m not entirely satisfied with the result, the important thing is the race and, of course, we are going to do our best to get a good finish.”