Ai Ogura changes his approach to win in MotoGP: all in, right away

The headline for MotoGP Friday practice in Brno can only be “FridAI Ogura.” With a sequence of fast laps, capped by a final (record) time of 1'51"735, the Japanese rider for the Trackhouse team took first place in Practice, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Pecco Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta, and so on. The 2024 Moto2 World Champion looked decidedly competitive from the very first free practice session, reaffirming how much he likes the former Masaryk Circuit (one of his favorite tracks, even if he’s raced there only a few times), but also highlighting a change in approach essential for aiming high.

In this early stretch of the season, at virtually every event on the calendar, Ai Ogura has been one of the fastest riders in the final stages of the race. Often the result was undermined by qualifying that was not exactly stellar and, not so much by forgettable starts, but rather by a “soft” approach in the opening laps. Diesel-like, if you will. It took him a bit to “get up to speed,” without there being technical reasons behind it.

Those who know him, joking a little, thought this gentle approach in the early phases of races was a matter of habit. Ai Ogura is one of the riders (if not the rider) who trains the most. This year he moved back to living full time in Japan and spends 4 to 5 days a week on track. From Motegi to Okegawa, at kart tracks—wherever he can. He shows up with his Honda CBR 600RR and CBR 1000RR-R (still his favorite bikes for training) and, with one set of tires, he has to make them last the whole day. Since he only has one set available, he has to make do, and paradoxically he brought this habit into MotoGP. Obviously that’s not the reason, but rather an approach he’s always carried with him. In every session and in the opening laps of a race, Ogura stays “on the sidelines.” Before pushing, before giving his all, he checks that everything is in order. It’s not even a matter of feeling, but truly of approach.

On becoming a more “explosive” rider, Ai Ogura and the Trackhouse team have certainly worked hard over these two years. Lately the first results have shown, also because in modern MotoGP if you find yourself eighth at the end of the first lap, it’s hard to aim for the podium (let alone victory) even if you have race pace on your side. And as we’ve seen, he overtakes well, without even putting the tires in crisis. In fact, Ogura simply doesn’t wear the tires: this “soft” approach means that in the early laps he doesn’t “eat up” the tires, then arriving at the end with rubber still fresh. With the possibility of doing 5 more laps... after the checkered flag! In theory a strength, in practice a weakness: it means not optimizing the package and situations, losing important chances.

Significant progress in this area has been seen in the previous races and, in Brno, there could be the definitive positive turning point. The fastest time in Practice, immediately managing to exploit the softs on his first flying lap, indicates that an appropriate countermeasure has been found. Every race is its own story, but once this limitation is smoothed out, Ogura will have all the credentials to make an impact in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix. Dreaming of a first premier-class win which Japan has been missing for 22 years now.