Justin Marks on Ai Ogura: “What better rookie to put on the bike”

Ai Ogura’s debut MotoGP season has stood out through three rounds, having finished in the top-10 – on-track at least – in all three Grands Prix.

The Japanese rider has proven himself a consistent top-10 contender in his opening MotoGP races, and has impressed even compared to fellow rookie Fermin Aldeguer on the Gresini Ducati GP24.

Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks has been one of the people to benefit most from Ogura’s performance, as Raul Fernandez continues to struggle to break into the top-10.

Marks says that he has been impressed with Ogura’s ability to adapt quickly to a MotoGP bike.

“The step from Moto2 to MotoGP is so big: the bikes have so much power, the aero, and just the level of competition, some of the experience – it’s a huge step, so you don’t really know [how a rookie will do],” said Marks to MotoGP.com.

“But what better rookie to put on the bike than the Moto2 World Champion?

“That’s why we hired him [Ogura]: incredible talent, very mature, intelligent.

“We hired him with the expectation that we’re going to have a great rider that’s going to be able to compete for points every time we go to the racetrack and eventually be able to compete for podiums.

“His debut in Thailand was spectacular, it was probably better than what we expected, but it also reminded us that we made a great decision in the rider that we put on the bike, so we’re very excited about his future.”

<H2>Ogura: Ninth “good” after “tough weekend”

Ogura himself was content with his weekend in Texas, which began with the Japanese rider 8.902 seconds off the pace in the wet FP1, but which concluded with a pair of ninth places in the Sprint and Grand Prix

“Ninth in the Sprint, ninth in the main race were good results, I think, after the tough weekend,” he told MotoGP.com.

“[In the Sprint] I was gaining positions by myself, but in the main race [there were] five or six crashes in front [of me] and I couldn’t do so much from my side.

“But, still, a top-10 finish, so I think me and my team can be happy about this weekend.”