The Avant Ajo MotoE rider crashes out of the opening lap of the penultimate contest of the 2021 season, due to a fall for another competitor ahead of him.

Avant Ajo MotoE and Hikari Okubo had a busy Saturday at Misano, with E-Pole and the first race of the weekend. The Japanese rider qualified in 12th position, after an atypical session for the electric competition, securing a place on the fourth row. In the contest itself, a crash in front of Okubo proved impossible to avoid, taking him out of the race.

Due to a change in schedule, E-Pole for the San Marino Grand Prix had its format modified to a 15 minute session involving all riders, limited to a maximum of 5 laps. Okubo tried to adapt to this new situation and eventually placed 12th, with a time of 1:44.785 on his last lap of 4.

The first race of the weekend was reduced from eight to seven laps before the start, with Okubo beginning from the fourth row of the grid. He gained several places on the opening corner and, when behind the chasing pack, a fall for another rider ahead of him left the Japanese with no time to take evasive action. Okubo crashed and was unable to re-join the contest.

The 8-lap last race of the 2021 FIM MotoE World Cup will take place tomorrow at 3:30 PM local time.

Results – Race 1
1. Jordi Torres 12:11.858
2. Dominique Aegerter +0.160
3. Mattia Casadei +0.405
4. Matteo Ferrari +2.786
5. Miquel Pons +3.072
DNF. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE)

MotoE World Cup Standing 2021
1. Jordi Torres 97 points
2. Dominique Aegerter 89 points
3. Alessandro Zaccone 80 points
4. Eric Granado 73 points
5. Lukas Tulovic 61 points
11. Hikari Okubo (Avant Ajo MotoE) 35 points

78 HIKARI OKUBO

“It was an unfortunate day for us. We started well and we gained some positions but, a few corners later, another rider suffered a big crash in front of me and I was unable to avoid him. Afterwards, I was not able to rejoin the contest. It was a racing incident and I hope the rest of the riders involved are doing ok. Tomorrow is a new day, and we will try to get a good result again. I want to enjoy the last contest of the season.”