Tech3 E-Racing completed its first 2023 Saturday which now faces two races of the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Championship. Alessandro Zaccone and Hikari Okubo were lining up from P11 and P12 respectively, both eager to grab a good result in their opening round at the Bugatti Circuit, one they both already jumped on in the past in the electric series.

RACE 1
When the lights went out with a small delay at lunch time, Japanese Hikari Okubo progressively grabbed positions lap after lap, until he found himself in sixth after four laps behind Manfredi. The next lap, he gained one more position and made an entry to the Top 5, a place that he had to defend until the end of the race. He did not give up, and even rode his fastest lap in lap 7/8, in 1’41.280, which allowed him to finish fifth of this first race, and score his first eleven points of 2023. His teammate Alessandro Zaccone also had a good start to his race as he managed to jump to P7 within a couple of laps, but was unfortunately given a long lap penalty due to exceeding track limits. He finished the race in eighth, and scored eight points in the championship.

RACE 2
In the second race at 16:10 (GMT+2), both had another chance to do even better. Zaccone lost a position at the race start but quickly got it back in lap 3, lap at the end of which he rode his fastest lap of the race in 1’41.176. He eventually completed the second race in P9, and scored another seven points, bringing his total to fifteen points at round 1 end of play. Teammate Okubo had a less successful second race than the morning one, and finished in P10. He will head to the next round in Mugello with seventeen points in the pocket, eager to score more!

Hiraki Okubo

"We scored good points in both races, and got a lot of information on the bike. The first race was good as I finished in fifth, but the second race was not as good. I was missing something and I am disappointed with myself. I look forward to the next race.”

Alessandro Zaccone

"Our qualifying position was not good so the two races were difficult this weekend with only eight laps to go. The first laps are always difficult because everyone is so close, but as the races went by, we felt better. We are working hard to find a better bike set up, we have made some progress, but there is still something missing. I am not satisfied with my positions from the day, so we will aim to do better at the next round. Thank you to my team for the weekend, and see you in Mugello."

Hervé Poncharal

Team Manager

"Our qualifying position was not good so the two races were difficult this weekend with only eight laps to go. The first laps are always difficult because everyone is so close, but as the races went by, we felt better. We are working hard to find a better bike set up, we have made some progress, but there is still something missing. I am not satisfied with my positions from the day, so we will aim to do better at the next round. Thank you to my team for the weekend, and see you in Mugello."