Marco Bezzecchi
Ai Ogura has been one of the standout riders in the 2025 MotoGP season thus far. The rookie has moved to the premier class with Trackhouse rather seamlessly.
The Moto2 champion made an impression in MotoGP almost immediately with some strong pace in pre-season testing. Alex Rins told Marc Marquex he was in awe of Ogura and how quick he was during the winter in Sepang.
The Japanese rider has carried the momentum into the regular season. Ogura finished an incredible P4 in the Sprint in Thailand and P5 in the main race.
Battling with two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia for much of the weekend, the 24-year-old proved he could cause a stir with the Ducatis. Marc Marquez congratulated Ogura after the race as he showed the paddock his true potential.
Reality set back in at Termad de Rio Hondo, however, as Ogura was disqualified from the Argentina GP after finishing P8. It was discovered that his Aprilia RS-GP25 was running a ‘non-homologated software version’ of MotoGP’s electronic control unit.
The Trackhouse rider put that disappointment behind him to finish P9 at the Grand Prix of the Americas. Ogura is the highest-ranked non-Ducati rider heading into the next round in Qatar, but his team still need ‘more’ from the rookie.
Giovanni Mattarollo says Ai Ogura sometimes ‘doesn’t talk enough’ during team briefings
The 24-year-old comes across as a shy character in the paddock. He often keeps to himself as he looks to improve his riding in the premier class.
A key reason for this may be that Ogura is struggling with a language barrier at Trackhouse. This will be something the team will have to work on throughout 2025, especially when his feedback in briefings is limited.
Speaking via the official MotoGP YouTube channel, Ogura’s crew chief Giovanni Mattarollo says he sometimes ‘doesn’t talk enough’ when the team need to find out where they can improve the bike.
“The weakest point is that maybe sometimes he doesn’t talk enough,” he said.
“He gives out really short comments that sometimes are not enough. We need to know something more and this is why then we sit together to check the data and we go deeper with some things.
“[We] ask to him: ‘Why are you doing that or why here you are losing?’ And after this, yeah, he starts to talk more. But if we don’t ask this, sometimes maybe we need something more.”
Ai Ogura is a class above Trackhouse teammate Raul Fernandez already
Ogura’s performances for Trackhouse have been hugely encouraging for the team and also Aprilia. The manufacturer have had a difficult start to the year with star rider Jorge Martin being out injured for the first three rounds.
Ogura’s teammate Raul Fernandez also had his pre-season compromised after crashing on day one of testing in Malaysia. The nature of the Spaniard’s injuries left Fernandez struggling to ride the bike naturally, having to alter his position on the machine.
The 25-year-old has been given a factory spec bike for the first time in 2025, but he is not currently taking advantage. Ogura has ‘absolutely destroyed’ Fernandez as he has bagged 25 points to the Spaniard’s five.
Fernandez has the backing of some top Aprilia staff, but he is continuously struggling with crashes and inconsistency. Massimo Rivola will be scratching his head after seeing the rider’s ‘strange’ form thus far in 2025.
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