Marco Bezzecchi
The MotoGP silly season went into overdrive throughout last year, with Yamaha and Honda the only teams to carry the same rider line-up from the 2024 season to 2025.
Each of their eight rival teams all dished out contracts to new riders as factory outfits Ducati, KTM and Aprilia brought in fresh blood and satellite crews Trackhouse Racing, VR46, Gresini, LCR, Tech3 and Pramac followed suit. All but five of the 22 riders are even on deals for 2026.
Yet despite locking one of their pilots in on a two-year deal for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, one team principal admits it was a ‘risk’ to welcome their new recruit. They can even see an exit on the cards already before pre-season testing gets underway in Sepang on January 31.
Davide Brivio admits Trackhouse took a ‘risk’ signing Ai Ogura
Trackhouse pulled off a coup a year ago as they tempted Davide Brivio to take charge of an outfit debuting in MotoGP after taking over the satellite Aprilia machines RNF ran in 2023. It would lead to another surprise too, as Brivio signed Ai Ogura to race for Trackhouse in 2025.
Brivio overlooked putting an American on the MotoGP grid with an American team as Ogura put pen to paper on a two-year contract for Trackhouse. The 23-year-old will get his premier class debut after impressing Trackhouse en route to Ogura winning the Moto2 title last year.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Ai Ogura from height to career stats
Ogura was second in the Moto2 standings when he got a MotoGP contract with Trackhouse. Yet, despite lifting the title by 40 points, Brivio notes there are still doubts about what Ogura can do on a MotoGP bike. He also fears that should Ogura impress, a factory will take notice.
Brivio told Crash: “Honestly, we don’t have in mind to grow up riders for a factory team. But I have to say, we are fully aware of the risk because, at the moment, still all the riders have the ambition to be in a factory team.
“Whether this is a good decision or not, it depends on situations. And one challenge that we would like to take is maybe to try to make an independent team good where at least a rider has a dilemma to leave or not. But we are very much aware of this risk.
“We know that if maybe Ai will be good, probably in ‘27 someone will come and try to pick him up. The challenge is to try to keep him here and to make him happy, and hopefully have a good bike to have good results and keep him here.”
Ai Ogura’s Moto2 title offers Trackhouse hope for a strong start in MotoGP
Ogura produced a largely consistent season to seal the Moto2 title while his rivals like Aron Canet and Sergio Garcia offered flashes of brilliance but struggled to string results together as often. The Japanese gem finished outside of the top five in five of the 19 races he started.
Trackhouse then got a first taste of what Ogura could offer on a MotoGP bike in November at the post-season Barcelona test. His next chance to ride their satellite Aprilia will come in the Shakedown at the end of January before the first true pre-season test on February 5-7.
READ MORE: Every MotoGP team’s confirmed 2025 rider line-up and contract details
Brivio will hope to see Ogura get up to speed with the RS-GP25 quickly in Sepang, plus then in Buriram ahead of the Grand Prix of Thailand to start the 2025 season. He can also take an ounce of optimism as Ogura won the Moto2 title in his first year riding a Boscoscuro chassis.
But even if he can adapt quickly to Aprilia’s bike, Trackhouse need to see Ogura maintain his consistent ways. That was not always the case in Moto2 as Ogura finished second in the title standings in 2022 just to drop to ninth in the standings in 2023 and did not win a Grand Prix.
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