The Avant Ajo MotoE rider qualifies on the fourth row of the grid for the Round 4 of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup season.

The legendary Assen circuit hosted qualifying day for the FIM MotoE World Cup for the first time on Saturday, and Hikari Okubo continued to take strides in adapting to both the class and the circuit. The Japanese secured a place on the fourth row of the grid for the Dutch Grand Prix, with tenth place. His aim is to go into the summer break with a good result from Sunday’s race.

In the morning, Okubo used the last Free Practice session to continue gathering data about his bike’s behaviour on the new surface at Assen. In doing so, he went quicker than he had on Friday and also felt more comfortable. At the end of FP3, the Avant Ajo MotoE rider was 9th after stopping the clock at 1:43.558, on his fourth lap out of a total of 9.

The Japanese was the tenth rider out for E-Pole, following the order established by the combined Free Practice standings. Okubo did his best to complete a lap without mistakes, setting a 1:44.364 which earned him tenth on the grid – a spot on the fourth row.

The fourth FIM MotoE World Cup race will start tomorrow at 3:30 PM local time and is scheduled for 7 laps.

Results (E-Pole)
1. Eric Granado 1:43.114
2. Lukas Tulovic 1:43.188 +0.074
3. Alessandro Zaccone 1:43.238 +0.124
4. Jordi Torres 1:43.478 +0.364
5. Dominique Aegerter 1:43.558 +0.444
10. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 1:44.364 +1.250

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“I haven’t fully adapted to the E-Pole format yet, as it is tough for me to get a good pace from one hot lap. In the morning, in FP3, I tried to do a drill imitating the qualifying session – and the result was quite good. However, in the afternoon it was a bit more difficult. The important thing is that I feel ready for tomorrow’s race. We will have to push hard from the start to overtake as many riders as possible, as the races here are short. We will do everything we can to achieve a positive result.”