Ai Ai Ogura, fifth place no longer cuts it: can the Japanese rider become one of the greats?

Ai Ogura solid and consistent in these first 2026 GPs. The Trackhouse Aprilia rider, however, gives himself a telling-off...

The 5th-place specialist at the start of MotoGP 2026. That’s the result achieved in as many as three races by Ai Ogura, with the exception of a 4th place in the Sprint in Thailand. But clearly the Trackhouse Aprilia rider isn’t happy with this “consistency”; in fact, he scolds himself for a long race in Brazil conditioned by a less-than-ideal start. In his second year in the premier class, the 2024 Moto2 world champion from Japan is determined to make the leap in quality. Also because the Aprilias have shown remarkable pace—needless to say, he too wants to finally be in the fight!

Consistency has always been his strong point—just look at his track record in the world championship. In particular, in the second year in a category it becomes his real ace up the sleeve. In 2020 he came close to the Moto3 crown thanks to consistency; in 2022 he made his mark in Moto2, then ran into late errors that gave a big hand to the eventual champion Augusto Fernandez. After a 2023 marked by physical troubles, 2024—his year of glory—is the clearest example: podiums and wins arrived too, but with so many steady finishes he managed to prevail in the Moto2 title fight, writing the history of his country and the class. Will it be the same in MotoGP? Consistency, determination, the desire to aim ever higher (while not sparing himself criticism if something doesn’t work), plus a Trackhouse team that’s on the up (as Raul Fernandez is also showing) and an Aprilia RS-GP that so far appears to be the bike to beat. It seems only a matter of time before we see the Japanese champion in the mix for the podium.

“Yeah, come on, it was a good race, except for the start,” Ai Ogura said at the end of the GP. “I didn’t get off the line well and lost a lot of positions, but I had good pace and managed to recover.” A 5th place, the third one, which doesn’t satisfy him, and there’s certainly some regret. “After that start, 5th was the maximum, but the feeling is we could have had a better race and I’m sorry for the team,” he admitted. His mind is already on next weekend: after South America, it’s off to the North, and the Circuit of the Americas in Austin is ready to welcome MotoGP.