The Japanese rider has first experience at the Red Bull Ring track on the opening day of Round 5 of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup.

After a long summer break, Hikari Okubo and the Avant Ajo MotoE team returned to work today at the Red Bull Ring, for the opening day of the Austrian GP. The Japanese rider had his first experience at the Spielberg circuit, participating in FP1 and FP2 of Round 5 of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup. Adapting rapidly to the track, he ended the day in 9th position on the combined timesheets.

In the morning, Okubo benefitted from optimal weather conditions in FP1. The Avant Ajo MotoE rider dedicated his 11 laps to gathering information about the circuit and, in turn, regaining his feeling onboard the MotoE after the long summer break. The Japanese placed 12th after stopping the clock at 1:37.434.

In the afternoon, the Avant Ajo MotoE rider took a big step forward, lowering his morning time by more than one second with a 1:36.243. With this time, Okubo finished the session in the 9th place, following a total of 9 more laps.

Tomorrow there will be one last Free Practice, followed by the Austrian Grand Prix E-Pole session at 4:10 PM CEST.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Dominique Aegerter 1:35.697
2. Fermin Aldeguer 1:35.707 +0.010
3. Eric Granado 1:35.887 +0.190
4. Matteo Ferrari 1:35.909 +0.212
5. Lukas Tulovic 1:35.978 +0.281
9. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 1:36.243 +0.546

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“Today I spent most of the time getting familiar with the track and gathering information about it, as it was my first time here. In FP2, we started to work on the setup of the bike, and we made some changes that didn’t work out too badly. We took a big step up from morning to afternoon, which is very positive. We are not too far from the top spot, so tomorrow we will continue to do our best to get even closer. My feeling is good and, so far, I’m liking the circuit – so I hope I can get a positive result n E-Pole.”