The Avant Ajo MotoE rider leads the French Grand Prix but crashes out on Lap 3 due to contact by another rider.

Hikari Okubo had an unfortunate French Grand Prix race as, after making a fantastic start, he crashed out when leading the contest when another rider collided with him. Despite the ending to his weekend, the Avant Ajo MotoE rider showed that he is in top form, climbing ten positions in two laps at Round 2 of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup season.

The second race of the year was held in the afternoon, after a change in the schedule for the French Grand Prix was announced yesterday. Okubo, who started from the fourth row of the grid, gained 5 places on the first corner to move into 5th. The Japanese rider ran a very strong pace that allowed him to move up the order without excessive difficulty and took the lead on Lap 2. Unfortunately, on the next lap, a rival competitor made contact with him and they both went down at Turn 3. The Avant Ajo MotoE rider was unable to remount and was forced to retire from the contest.

Okubo is 10th in the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup with 9 points. Avant Ajo MotoE will be back in action at the Catalan Grand Prix, on June 4-6th.

Results – Race

1. Eric Granado 12:23.012
2. Mattia Casadei +0.306
3. Alessandro Zaccone +0.253
4. Dominique Aegerter +0.532
5. Jordi Torres +0.640
DNF. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE)

MotoE World Cup Standing 2021

1. Alessandro Zaccone 41 points
2. Mattia Casadei 33 points
3. Dominique Aegerter 33 points
4. Eric Granado 28 points
5. Jordi Torres 27 points
10. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 9 points

AKI AJO – TEAM MANAGER

“It was a shame about Okubo’s crash, as he had made a spectacular start and was leading the race. Throughout the weekend he had proven to be very strong both in the dry and in the wet. He did something that we have never seen before with these electric bikes, which is overtake a large number of riders on the opening laps and get to the front of the contest. We are sad that he was unable to complete the round due to a mistake by another competitor.”

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“It was a difficult day as we crashed due to another rider’s mistake. What I will take away from today is that we had a great start and were able to push hard, until we took the lead. Now we have a couple of weeks off before the next race, where we will try again, doing our best as always.”