Ai Ogura, small but deadly: can a Japanese rider conquer MotoGP?

Mission accomplished at Assen: after Moto3 and Moto2, Ai Ogura rewrites history in MotoGP as well. And now he’s truly in the title fight.

Ai Ogura is being underestimated far too much; today’s race at Assen (race report and results here) is further proof. Only Makoto Tamada had managed to win in MotoGP back in 2004; today we add the new ace from the Land of the Rising Sun: he rewrote history in Moto3 and Moto2, and now here’s another beautiful piece in MotoGP. To think the plot twist could’ve gone another way, since at one point he had a fight with the rear ride-height device! Fortunately, it all got sorted out and Ogura went back to hunting down Martin and Fernandez, seizing a fantastic result. And the overall standings smile on him even more: with Bezzecchi’s crash, Martin is now the leader, but the Japanese rider is only 25 points behind!

“There’s not much to say... Thank you to the Trackhouse team, thank you to the Japanese fans, thank you to everyone!” he began, then sent a message in his native language. Composed as always, but this time much more emotional and lost for words, Ai Ogura spoke like this live in parc fermé. The long-pursued MotoGP celebration has arrived for him too. “This win is very close to a title. I’m over the moon,” he then added later to motogp.com’s microphones. After coming close in Brno and again yesterday in the Sprint, Ai Ogura finally takes home his first GP triumph.

“Winning at Assen is even more special; it’s one of my favorite tracks.” And now, as mentioned at the start, Ogura is very close in the standings: -25 from the new leader Jorge Martin, the points you earn in a GP. Again, he doesn’t want to hear about that topic. “I’ll keep doing my job. If it’s enough, I’ll be happy; otherwise the others did better,” he concluded. But shortly after he opened up a bit more: “25 points... If the numbers say so, yes, I think I’m one of the title contenders.”

As for the ride-height device, there was a scare. “I was managing the situation with Raul and Jorge; there was an opportunity. Then I had the problem and the gap grew again,” he recounted. “I was worried, but I had good pace and I managed to catch them and pass them, even building a gap.”

What happened? “I activated it at the final chicane; you then have to deactivate it at Turn 1. But I don’t know why, somehow it activated itself again,” he explained, immediately taking the blame. “I probably pressed some button myself; I think it was my mistake. It was scary, but fortunately I didn’t lose too much time.”