The Avant Ajo MotoE rider finishes seventh in the first race of the 2021 season, held alongside the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Jerez-Angel Nieto Circuit raised the curtain on the 2021 season of the FIM MotoE World Cup this Sunday. In the opening race of the year, Hikari Okubo took a solid seventh position, claiming points in his first experience in the electric racing series. The Japanese rider had to overcome the setbacks of a crash-filled contest that took place in the afternoon instead of in the morning.

The race time schedule was adjusted as a result of a red flag in the Moto2 warm-up session, moving the MotoE contest to 3:30 PM local time. When it got underway, Hikari Okubo made a great start from the 11th spot of the grid, climbing four positions in just one lap. The Avant Ajo MotoE rider made great effort to stay focused, as a large number of crashes occurred around him. Finally, the Japanese finished in seventh place on his debut in the competition, beginning his team’s third season in the FIM MotoE World Cup.

After Round 1, Okubo is seventh in the overall standings with 9 points. Avant Ajo MotoE will be back in action in two weeks’ time for the second round of the series, which will take place at Le Mans alongside the French GP, from May 14-16th.

Results – Race

1. Alessandro Zaccone 14:33.776
2. Dominique Aegerter +0.419
3. Jordi Torres +0.614
4. Mattia Casadei +4.273
5. Miquel Pons +6.105
7. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) +8.574

FIM MotoE World Cup Standing 2021

1. Alessandro Zaccone 25 points
2. Dominique Aegerter 20 points
3. Jordi Torres 16 points
4. Mattia Casadei 13 points
5. Miquel Pons 11 points
7. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 9 points

AKI AJO – TEAM MANAGER

“We had a solid performance in the first race of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup season. Hikari [Okubo] did a great job this weekend, making no mistakes. We know that this is not an easy championship for the rookie riders since pre-season testing during the winter is limited. With all this in mind, we have to be very happy with Hikari’s performance, especially because of the consistency he has shown. This is the way forward for us to progress at the next few contests.”

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“It was a strange day. The race was held late in the afternoon rather than in the morning, which made the track conditions completely different. Even so, we started well – and from there we tried to stay focused despite the crashes in front of me. After the first four laps, my front tyre was worn down, as I had pushed very hard at the start. This prevented me from continuing to run the same pace and enabled other riders to overtake me. Seventh is not a bad result since we picked up some important points. Now we have to focus on the next contest at Le Mans, where we will once again do our best to get a good result.”