Davide Brivio: Why Ai Ogura “has potential to become a great MotoGP rider”

Davide Brivio has cited ‘riding style’ and ‘resilience during races’ as among the factors that prompted Trackhouse to pick Ai Ogura for MotoGP in 2025

The Japanese, a five-time Moto2 winner and currently second in the world championship, got the nod for the final RS-GP seat in the face of competition from team-mate and title leader Sergio Garcia as well as Joe Roberts.

Experienced MotoGP riders such as Jack Miller are also officially still on the market.

Brivio, who previously gave the likes of Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales their MotoGP debuts while running the factory Suzuki team, said:

“Welcome Ai - we are excited to have finalised the opportunity to start a new project with Ai, one of the most talented riders in Moto2.

“We appreciate his riding style, his resilience during races and we feel Ai has the potential to become a great MotoGP rider.

“While we will work to develop Trackhouse Team as a MotoGP project, we will simultaneously work to give Ai the tools to express his talent and grow as much as possible.

“I think that with Raul, as the young but experienced rider and Ai, as the new growing talent, Trackhouse has secured a strong rider line-up for the future.

“It’s going to be an exciting time ahead but first we all want to keep our focus on what we are doing now, our own championship’s and trying to finish at the best possible result, before to start our journey together.”

Team owner Justin Marks added that Ogura, who has signed a two-year deal, is ‘ready’ for MotoGP.

“We’re excited to welcome to the house a young and very promising talent in Ai Ogura,” Marks said. “He has demonstrated his preparation and commitment to winning in Moto2 and is ready for the step up to the MotoGP class.

“We’re looking forward to working with him and supporting him as he learns the Aprilia bike and the incredible competition at the top level of international motorcycle racing.”

While some have expressed surprise that Trackhouse overlooked ‘local’ rider Joe Roberts, just one place behind Ogura in the Moto2 standings, Marks underlined the team’s international flavour:

“Trackhouse Racing MotoGP was created to serve as the global expansion initiative of the Trackhouse brand.

“It’s truly exciting that we now have an athlete roster across our teams that represents Mexico, USA, Spain, New Zealand, and now Japan.”

Ogura and continuing Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez will use the latest 2025 factory-spec RS-GPs next season.