Ai Ogura shares what he learned from Francesco Bagnaia after battling in Thailand Grand Prix

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Ai Ogura has quickly become one of the standout riders in MotoGP. The rookie produced a stunning weekend at the Thailand Grand Prix.

The Moto2 champion made an immediate impression on his Aprilia RS-GP25 in pre-season. High-ranking Aprilia staff were ‘so impressed’ by Ogura throughout Sepang and Buriram with Trackhouse Racing.

The Japanese rider carried that momentum into the Thailand Grand Prix. He finished a superb fourth in the Sprint race on Saturday behind Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia.

Sylvain Guintoli lauded Ogura’s ‘unbelievable’ performance in the Sprint. Fellow MotoGP rookies Fermin Aldeguer and Somkiat Chantra finished 13th and 19th respectively.

Not many would have expected the 24-year-old to make as strong of an impact as he did. Neil Hodgson apologised to Trackhouse after thinking the team had made a mistake signing Ogura.

Ai Ogura learned from Francesco Bagnaia to be ‘smooth’ after battling in the Thailand Grand Prix

The Japanese rider lined up fifth for the race on Sunday and found himself battling Bagnaia again in the early stages.

Ogura finished fifth behind Franco Morbidelli in what was another strong performance. Hodgson was ‘in love’ with Ogura as he battled the VR46 rider, sensing he was behind him trying to make a move.

There will not be many people who would have expected Ogura to battle the biggest names in MotoGP in only his first race – and the Trackhouse rider would have learned a lot from it.

Speaking on TNT Sports 2 after the race, Ogura shared what he learned from Bagnaia in his battle with the Ducati rider in Buriram. He said it was ‘really helpful’ fighting with the two-time champion.

“That was really helpful for me for today’s main race. I learned from Pecco to be smooth and it was really important for the main race, even more for the main race.

“So that was a good point of the day.”

Jorge Martin will hate watching Ai Ogura while out injured

Ogura’s performance in Thailand will be a major confidence boost for Aprilia. The Noale-based manufacturer suffered a major setback with Jorge Martin being ruled out with injury.

The defending champion sustained fractures to his right hand and left foot in Sepang, ending his pre-season before it really started. During his recovery, Martin crashed a motocross bike in training, taking him out of Thailand and Argentina.

Talks are suggesting Martin could miss up to three months with his injury. While this is catastrophic for Aprilia, Ogura’s performance will be a sigh of relief as they have a rider – along with Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez – who can compete.

But Hodgson cannot ‘imagine’ what Martin is thinking watching Ogura. The Japanese rider’s performance was a glimpse of what the defending champion can achieve at Aprilia.