The Avant Ajo MotoE rider undertook the first day of the third round of the FIM MotoE World Cup, coinciding with the Catalan Grand Prix.

The FIM MotoE World Cup took to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time on Friday, for the opening day of the Catalan Grand Prix. Hikari Okubo concluded the FP1 and FP2, finishing 11th on the combined timesheets.

Okubo had his first experience on the Catalan track aboard a MotoE in FP1. In the session, the Avant Ajo MotoE rider rode a total of 9 laps, which allowed him to gather valuable data. The Japanese set his personal best time of the practice on his fifth attempt, stopping the clock at 1:52.251 to take 10th.

In the afternoon, Okubo was able to finish eleventh in FP2, despite suffering a crash at the beginning of the session. The Japanese would remount and set his fastest lap of the day, with a 1:51.812 after putting in 7 more laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Tomorrow morning Okubo will have a final Free Practice session in which to fine-tune his setup, followed by E-Pole at 4:10 PM local time.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Lukas Tulovic 1:50.808
2. Jordi Torres 1:50.857 +0.049
3. Yonny Hernandez 1:51.132 +0.324
4. Eric Granado 1:51.216 +0.408
5. Fermin Aldeguer 1:51.261 +0.453
11. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 1:51.812 +1.004

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“It was a tough day for us, as I suffered a crash in FP2 and I lost valuable time in which to find a good setup for the bike. In any case, I felt comfortable riding on this track with the MotoE, so we have to keep working the same way to keep progressing. It will be a difficult race, but I will do my best to get a good result.”