Marco Bezzecchi
Ai Ogura is one of three rookies joining the MotoGP grid in 2025. The Japanese rider arguably has the most expectations after winning the Moto2 title last year.
Ogura will race with satellite Aprilia team Trackhouse Racing this season alongside Raul Fernandez. The 24-year-old got his first outing in the Shakedown session at Sepang last week before completing three days of testing on February 5-7.
It has been a disastrous start to Aprilia’s campaign as they lost two riders on day one. Defending champion Jorge Martin suffered a violent highside at turn two and was ruled for the rest of testing with injuries to his right hand and left foot.
Ogura’s teammate Fernandez also crashed on day one and broke his hand. It marks the second season in a row that the Spaniard has ended his pre-season early through injury.
This left Aprilia with just two riders for the final two days; Martin’s teammate Marco Bezzecchi – who has never been a factory rider before – and rookie Ogura.
Despite the limited knowledge of the RS-GP25 and experience in MotoGP, the Japanese rider made an impression in Malaysia. Trackhouse were particularly ‘loving’ one key thing about their new signing.
Trackhouse are ‘loving’ how critical Ai Ogura is about himself
Ogura was the only rider to do a race simulation in the Sepang Shakedown. It highlights how fit the Japanese rider is for the season and how much he wants to make an impact.
Rival teams were impressed by Ogura’s laps in the Shakedown and he carried that momentum into the Official Test. He placed 14th on the final day of testing, 1.2 seconds behind table topper Alex Marquez.
Speaking on The Race MotoGP Podcast, journalist Simon Patterson shared how ‘brutal’ Ogura was about himself. The Japanese rider told media his braking was a ‘disaster’ despite team manager Davide Brivio waxing lyrical about how ‘super precise’ it was.
Patterson says this is working to Ogura’s advantage as Trackhouse are ‘loving’ how the 24-year-old strives for perfection.
“He’s starting to come out of his shell, he’s always been quite quiet in his debriefs which have been hilarious because he is so brutally mean about himself”, he said.
“Someone said to him today, Davide Brivio had said to them that: ‘He’s super precise with his braking, especially into turn one.’ And he was like: ‘No I’m not, I’m terrible at it and especially in turn one. It’s a disaster’.
“So, he’s so critical of himself! But then speaking to Brivio and some of the Trackhouse guys, that is working to his favour.
“Because basically, they bring something new into the mix and he will not move on until it’s perfect. So he’s building this really slow, perfect, steady progress towards being a MotoGP rider, and the team are loving it because it is the right way to do it”.
Will Aprilia be having second thoughts about Raul Fernandez?
All four Aprilia riders will have the factory RS-GP25 this season as they look to build upon last year. The Noale-based manufacturer were the only race winner besides Ducati, with Maverick Vinales denying a clean sweep in Austin.
But ‘every single ounce’ of Aprilia’s drained after Martin’s crash having had such high hopes for a positive session. Now they have two riders on the sidelines with unknown recovery times.
Fernandez’s injury will be particularly frustrating. The Spaniard had a disappointing 2024 campaign finishing 16th behind teammate Miguel Oliveira – despite the Portuguese rider missing five of the last six races through injury.
Aprilia kept faith in Fernandez and retained him at Trackhouse, while Oliveira moved over to satellite Yamaha team Pramac.
But Massimo Rivola has ‘got to be’ having second thoughts about Fernandez and wonder whether Oliveira would have been the ‘better bet’ after the former had another costly crash in pre-season.
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