EXCLUSIVE: Is this Japan’s next MotoGP superstar?

Picture the scene, it’s Thursday 1st August. The summer break is over for the MotoGP paddock and everyone descends upon a sunny Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.

A lot of the attention is fixated on the MotoGP riders, and rightly so.

However, there are plenty of Moto3 and Moto2 riders walking around the paddock without any attention whatsoever, the stars of the future are left to just get on with the job, hopeful that one day, they’ll make it to the dizzy heights of the premier class.

There is one Moto2 rider has now made that jump to MotoGP.

I’m waiting at the back of the MT Helmets MSI team trucks, when suddenly the back door opens and the rider appears.

That rider is Japan’s Ai Ogura, he nods at me, we shake hands and he says “let’s go”.

Daijiro Kato 'my hero'

Japan has a rich history when it comes to Grand Prix racing.

Their most recent World Champion was Ogura’s team boss at Honda Team Asia, Hiroshi Aoyama, in the 250cc class back in 2009.

Ogura is aiming to add his name to that list of Japanese World Champions, he also runs the numbers of the late Japanese riders Shoya Tomizawa and Daijiro Kato on his race leathers as mark of respect.

Ogura especially explained his admiration for the 2001 250cc World Champion: “Of course, he is my hero."

“For me, he is the best Japanese rider in all of history. But when I was growing up as a kid, he was already gone.

When I was watching MotoGP, there was Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa - so they were more of a reference for me."

“But for Daijiro, I studied him so much by watching the videos… Yeah, he is the number one for me!”

Shoya Tomizawa won the first ever Moto2 race back in 2010 at Qatar, before tragically losing his life in an accident at Misano later that season.

Daijiro Kato is regarded by many as the best Japanese rider of all time, winning 17 Grand Prix races from 1996-2003 - winning the 250cc World title for Fausto Gresini’s team in 2001. He moved into the MotoGP class in 2002, scoring two podiums in his rookie season.

He was remained with Gresini in 2003, riding a factory Honda RC211V. Kato lost his life after a crash during the opening round of the 2003 season at Suzuka. 

Trackhouse MotoGP move finalised

Ogura is no stranger to the Grand Prix paddock, despite only being 23 years old - he started in the Asia Talent Cup back in 2015, progressing through the ranks of the Red Bull Rookies Cup and then making his mark in CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship in 2017 and 2018.

A product of the Honda Team Asia programme, his time in Moto3 showed that he is a fast learner, tenth overall in his rookie season of Moto3 in 2019 with a second place finish at Aragon being the stand out result.

The Covid-hit 2020 season was Ogura’s final season on Moto3 machinery and it was his best.

With seven podium finishes, he went into the final round of the season with a chance of winning the World Championship. Ultimately, he finished third in the standings, four points behind eventual champion Albert Arenas.

From 2021, he’s been one of the standout riders in the Moto2 class, which is why MotoGP teams had been looking to acquire his services for the 2025 season.

He will join Trackhouse riding an Aprilia, it has been confirmed.

It had previously felt like the Japanese rider would replace fellow countryman Taka Nakagami at Idemitsu LCR Honda, because of his links with Honda and title sponsor Idemitsu’s desire to have an Asian rider on the grid in MotoGP.

Nakagami recently said that he feels that Ogura is ready to make the step: “For him it is really a great opportunity and he has the potential.”

When told about Nakagami’s words of encourage, Ogura smiled when answering: “I am really happy he’s said these things about me!”

Ogura is the the first rider from the Asia Talent Cup to make it to the top class of Grand Prix racing.

“Well, I came from the Honda project and progressed through the Asia Talent Cup,” he said. 

“There is still no rider that has made it to the MotoGP class from that series, if I could be the first one, it would mean a lot to me.

“You know, creating images for the younger riders (from Asia) now can be something special.”

The rider from Kiyose, Toyko, has faced many hurdles throughout his Moto2 career. In 2022, he narrowly missed out on the title to Augusto Fernandez as a costly crash on the final lap of the penultimate round in Malaysia when taking lead, proved to be too much of a gap to close in Valencia as he crashed out of the final race and had to settle for a P2 overall in the championship.

2023 started in the worst possible way for the Japanese rider, he suffered a wrist injury in training before the start of the season, which saw him miss the opening round of the year.

As riders do, they come back when not fully fit and try to grind it out, Ogura did this but struggled in the early part of the season which effectively ended any chances of fighting for the World Championship.

However bouncing back in 2024, he believes that this season has been his best to date.

“This season has clearly been the best for me,” he said. “2022, it was my second year in Moto2 and I adapted well to the category, but there were still many things that I didn’t know then.

“Sometimes, as a rider, when you don’t know something, it’s easier to go faster because you don’t know where the limit is. I was in that situation in 2022, so fighting for the title then compared to now in 2024 - for me, this year means much more.

Especially after a tough 2023 season, I’ve managed to come back with a new team, new tyres and chassis. It has been a year with big things for me, so I am enjoying and I’m happy.”

The adaptation for everyone in Moto2 to Pirelli tyres has seen the intermediate class change massively as the riders have to tyre save much more than they would have compared to the previous Dunlop tyres.

Ogura also added the element of changing teams and chassis for 2024, moving from Honda Team Asia and a Kalex chassis to the MT Helmets MSI team with Boscoscuro chassis.

“I think I’ve been quite lucky,” he said, “because I haven’t really needed to think about the difference of the Boscoscuro and the Kalex chassis.

“At the same time, the tyre/chassis combination is different but how I started with the Boscoscuro in testing was really smooth. I instantly had a good feeling with it.

When asked about changing riding style for chassis/tyre combination, he expanded: “No, I haven’t had to change my riding style. For the Pirelli tyres, we’ve all had to adapt and that’s the biggest difference this season."

“Of course, the tyre management is the biggest difference when you compare it with the Dunlop tyres. For riding style adjustments, Pirelli has more grip on the front, so that means I can push more on it. Which is something that I really needed, because with the Dunlop front tyre I could never find the best balance with it and the rear tyre."

“I always took all the traction from the front and let’s say… I was riding 90% with the rear, this was never really my target and wasn’t how I wanted to ride. However with the Pirelli tyres, it has allowed me to do more of what I want and personally, it has been a better change.”

Japan's 15-year wait to end?

Currently sitting 2nd in the Moto2 World Championship, Ogura has bagged himself two wins in 2024 so far, 18 points behind his teammate Sergio Garcia.

The Japanese rider admits that moving to a European team for this season was ultimately for competition, but says that the relationship with his new teammate is currently “normal” despite the title fight.

He said: “At the moment, I’ve got a normal relationship with my teammate! One reason why I decided to choose a European team was because of this. If you stay at Honda Team Asia, Somkiat was really fast but it’s not easy to have a fast teammate consistently."

"You feel kind of safe being there, if nobody is pushing you, you are just relaxing and you can be happy with a P5 for example. But, being in a team like this (MT Helmets MSI), you need to be constantly fast. It’s good for me and this why I made the decision to join a European team and it’s nice to have a fast teammate like Sergio.”

Japan’s 15 year wait for a Grand Prix World Champion might be over in a matter of months, but Ai Ogura’s journey only feels like it’s beginning with MotoGP on the horizon, his aggressive riding style with an incredible ability on the brakes has clearly made an impression on other MotoGP team bosses outside of Honda.

Now confirmed for Trackhouse Racing, the Valencia test will be an exciting prospect. It will be dominated by the debuts of Jorge Martin on the Factory Aprilia and Marc Marquez on the Factory Ducati.

Ogura’s skill set will show greatly on the Aprilia, because he is one of the finest talents we’ve seen from Eastern Asia for a while and he appreciates the history of riders from Japan that have come before him, an incredible attitude for someone at the age of 23.