Ai Ogura finished third in the French GP on Sunday, behind championship leaders Jorge Martín and Marco Bezzecchi, and achieved the first podium for a Japanese MotoGP rider since Katsuyuki Nakasuga in the Valencian GP in 2012. Ogura is also the first driver from the Asia Talent Cup to reach a podium in the top category of motorcycle racing.
Trackhouse MotoGP Team's Ai Ogura, aged 25, won the 2024 Moto2 Championship and is in his second MotoGP season, currently fifth in the standings. Ogura is also the only non-Spaniard or Italian in the top 11 of the MotoGP standings at the moment, which only features other four non-Western-European riders: South African Brad Binder (13th), Brazilian Diogo Moreira (17th), Turkish Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (20th) and Australian Jack Miller (21).
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Despite the presence of many Japanese factories in motorcycling, many have opted for European riders. Trackhouse, an American team with an Italian bike, from Aprilia, however, made a bet on Ogura and it paid off.
"The truth is, I'm giving 100 percent, and I try to adapt to every race situation. It's always been our strong point, but our weakness remains: the start and the initial stages. We need to improve that aspect, and perhaps then we'll be in a position to be stronger", said Ogura (via Motorsport).