The Avant Ajo MotoE rider finishes eighth on Friday’s combined timesheets at the French Grand Prix, the second round of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup season.

Avant Ajo MotoE and Hikari Okubo returned to work at the Le Mans circuit today, for the opening day of the French Grand Prix. The second round of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup season started with two fruitful Free Practice sessions, in which the Japanese rider continued to progress in his adaptation to the championship. Okubo set the eighth best lap on Friday’s combined timesheets.

FP1 for the French Grand Prix was Okubo’s first experience in mixed conditions aboard a MotoE this season. Despite the tough state of the French track, the Avant Ajo MotoE rider adapted well and finished the session in sixth, with a time of 1:45.252. He completed 10 laps in a run dedicated to gathering as much information and knowledge as possible.

In the afternoon, the track dried out completely and Okubo took advantage of FP2 to continue taking consistent steps forward. In the closing moments, the Japanese set the eighth fastest time of both the session and of the day, stopping the clock at 1:44.935. In addition, the Avant Ajo MotoE rider completed 10 productive laps of the historic circuit.

Tomorrow at midday, Okubo will put to the test all the findings he and his crew made in a final Free Practice. In the afternoon, at 4:10 PM local time, the second E-Pole session of the year will be held.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)

1. Eric Granado 1:43.909
2. Jordi Torres 1:44.045 +0.136
3. Lukas Tulovic 1:44.069 +0.160
4. Alessandro Zaccone 1:44.088 +0.179
5. Dominique Aegerter 1:44.202 +0.293
8. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 1:44.935 +1.026

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“My feeling today was good. However, in FP2 I encountered a lot of traffic, which prevented me from putting together a run of strong fast laps. Nevertheless, the most important thing that we learned from today is that we felt comfortable, regardless of the track conditions. Tomorrow we will do our best to get a great position on the grid for Sunday.”