Ai Ogura

Ai Ogura
Ogura at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(2001-01-26) 26 January 2001 Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan
Current team	MT Helmets – MSi
Bike number	79
Motorcycle racing career statistics Moto2 World Championship Active years 2021– Manufacturers Kalex (2021–2023) Boscoscuro (2024) Championships 1 (2024) 2023 championship position 9th (137.5 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 73 6 19 5 3 760.5 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2018–2020 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2020 championship position 3rd (170 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 37 0 8 1 2 280

Ai Ogura (小椋藍, Ogura Ai, born 26 January 2001) is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle racer who is currently competing in Moto2 for MT Helmets – MSi and has recently won the 2024 Moto2 World Championship. He previously competed in Moto2 and Moto3 for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, finishing as championship runner-up in 2022.

Career

Early career

He finished 11th in the 2016 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, in 2017 he participated in 9 out of 12 races of the 2017 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship while taking part in the 2017 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, finishing 5th which earned him a promotion to the FIM CEV Moto3 Junior Championships the following season.

Moto3 World Championship

Asia Talent Team (2018)

Ogura on the podium of the 2018 CEV Moto3 Valencia II race 2

Ogura made his Moto3 World Championship debut as a wildcard during the 2018 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, finishing 15th and scoring his maiden point. He made three more wildcard appearances, wherein two of them he finished outside the points, and crashed with 3 laps to go in the German Grand Prix after a collision with Gabriel Rodrigo when he was running 9th. He also participated in the FIM CEV Moto3 where he finished fifth in the standings.

Honda Team Asia (2019–2020)

Ogura signed with Honda Team Asia for the 2019 Moto3 World Championship alongside compatriot Kaito Toba, who had spent the previous two seasons with said team. He scored points in fourteen out of the nineteen races, and managed to finish second in the Aragon Grand Prix, it being his single podium and best result of the season. Ogura was coincidentally collected by Andrea Migno in both of the San Marino and Thai rounds in the very last lap while running 4th. He finished 10th in the standings with 109 points.

For the 2020 season, Ogura stayed in Honda Team Asia, teaming up with rookie Yuki Kunii, and managed to be consistent throughout the whole season reaching the podium in seven occasions. Ogura remained second in the standings for the most part of the season and took the championship battle with Tony Arbolino and Albert Arenas to the last round in Portugal, where the latter ended up taking the crown, while Ogura lost the second spot in the standings to Arbolino. His final position was third with a total of 170 points, with his best result being second in Jerez and Misano.

Moto2 World Championship

2021

In 2021, Ogura was promoted to Moto2, riding for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia alongside Thai Somkiat Chantra. In his rookie season, he managed to be in the top 10 in every race he finished except for the first round in Qatar. Ogura qualified in the front row twice at the Red Bull Ring in the Styrian and Austrian Grand Prix, and earned his single podium and best result of the season after finishing second in the latter round, where he managed to follow championship contender and fellow rookie Raúl Fernández until the last lap with only a 0.845 second gap separating each other at the finish line.

He missed the Valencia round as a result of an injury sustained after crashing in the Algarve Grand Prix where he suffered a small left-foot fracture. He was beaten by Fernández to the rookie of the year award, who finished second in the standings. Meanwhile Ogura ended up 8th with 120 points and managed to finish ahead of teammate Chantra.

2022

For 2022 Ogura remained in the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, where he fought for the title until the last race. He started off the season achieving two podiums in the first four rounds in Argentina and COTA. Ogura was involved in a multi-rider crash in the Portuguese Grand Prix when he was running third after a rain shower unexpectedly hit part of the track resulting in unwarned riders losing control of their machines. He was able to pick up the bike and bring it to the pits but was not allowed to restart as five minutes had already passed after the red flag had been shown. He earned his first World Championship win in the sixth round in Jerez starting from pole position. After a third position in Mugello, Ogura was tied in points with then championship leader Celestino Vietti, and led the championship for the first time after the 13th round in Austria where he achieved his second pole and win, with a last lap battle involving teammate Chantra.

He and Augusto Fernández took the title fight to the last rounds, wherein Ogura earned his home win in Motegi and got the championship lead back after the Australian round. With two rounds left and heading to the Malaysian Grand Prix, he held a 3.5 point lead gap to Fernández but lost it due to a crash in the last lap after taking the race lead from Tony Arbolino. Ogura ultimately lost the championship to Fernández after crashing in the last round in Valencia. He finished as championship runner-up with 242 points.

2023

During the 2023 pre-season training in Spain, Ogura suffered a broken wrist which ruled him out of the first two rounds in Portugal and Argentina. He started the season in COTA, and earned three podiums in total, one being second in his home race in Motegi. Ogura came 9th in the standings with 137.5 points.

On 15 September 2023, MT Helmets – MSi announced that Ogura would be joining their Moto2 project for the 2024 season alongside Sergio García. Two weeks later HRC revealed that Ogura would stay linked with their program next season.

2024

Ogura at the 2024 Malaysian Grand Prix

MT Helmets – MSi signed a deal with Boscoscuro to race with their chassis for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, which set a challenge for Ogura who had been racing on a Kalex frame for the past three seasons. He started the season with consistent performances edging the podium spots until Le Mans, where he finished second, and the next race in Barcelona where he got his first win of the season, in front of teammate and championship leader García. He won again in Assen and was third in Sachsenring.

On 15 August 2024, ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Trackhouse Racing announced that Ogura would be promoted to MotoGP in a 2-year deal with the American team for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, partnering Raúl Fernández. On the same weekend's Saturday Practice Ogura highsided exiting Turn 2's chicane, fracturing his right hand, which made him sit out of the Grand Prix. He went on to win the San Marino Grand Prix only three weeks after suffering his fracture, which placed him as championship leader for the first time. Ogura finished second in Indonesia and home race Motegi. He would then finish fourth in Australia and second in Thailand to secure the 2024 Moto2 World Riders' Championship in front of remaining championship contenders Canet, Aldeguer and García.

MotoGP World Championship

Trackhouse Racing (2025)

In 15 August 2024, Trackhouse Racing announced that Ogura would be promoted to MotoGP and sign a 2-year deal with the American team for the 2025 and 2026 seasons and partner Raúl Fernández.

Career statistics

Asia Talent Cup

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Pts
2015	Honda	THA1 10	THA2 Ret	QAT1 12	QAT2 13	MAL1 6	MAL2 Ret	CHN1 2	CHN2 1	JPN1 2	JPN2 4	SEP1 Ret	SEP2 10	7th	107
2016	Honda	THA1 1	THA2 4	QAT1 2	QAT2 7	MAL1 5	MAL2 Ret	CHN1 1	CHN2 3	JPN1 3	JPN2 1	SEP1 4	SEP2 Ret	2nd	173

Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Pts
2016	JER1 Ret	JER2 10	ASS1 3	ASS2 Ret	SAC1 11	SAC2 19	RBR1 12	RBR2 11	BRN1 Ret	BRN2 20	MIS 9	ARA1 11	ARA2 4	11th	61
2017	JER1 2	JER2 4	ASS1	ASS2	SAC1	SAC2	BRN1 19	BRN2 11	RBR1 1	RBR2 3	MIS 1	ARA1 2	ARA2 19	5th	124

FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Pts
2017	Honda	ALB Ret	LMS 5	CAT1 Ret	CAT2 DNS	VAL1	VAL2	EST 3	JER1 12	JER1 1	ARA 8	VAL1 8	VAL2 5	8th	83
2018	Honda	EST Ret	VAL1 Ret	VAL2 3	FRA 3	CAT1 7	CAT2 23	ARA 4	JER1 Ret	JER2 2	ALB 7	VAL1 1	VAL2 2	5th	128

FIM Moto2 European Championship

By year

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts
2023	Kalex	EST1	EST2	VAL1 DNS	JER	POR1	POR2	CAT1	CAT2	ARA1	ARA2	VAL2	NC	0

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2018	Moto3	Honda	Asia Talent Team	4	0	0	0	0	1	36th
2019	Moto3	Honda	Honda Team Asia	18	0	1	0	1	109	10th
2020	Moto3	Honda	Honda Team Asia	15	0	7	1	1	170	3rd
2021	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	17	0	1	0	1	120	8th
2022	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	20	3	7	3	1	242	2nd
2023	Moto2	Kalex	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	18	0	3	0	0	137.5	9th
2024	Moto2	Boscoscuro	MT Helmets – MSi	18	3	8	2	1	261*	1st*
Total				110	6	27	6	5	1040.5

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto3	2018–2020	2018 Spain	2019 Aragon		37	0	8	1	2	280	0
Moto2	2021–present	2021 Qatar	2021 Austria	2022 Spain	73	6	19	5	3	740.5	1
Total	2018–present				110	6	27	6	5	1040.5	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Pts
2018	Moto3	Honda	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA 15	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED 23	GER Ret	CZE	AUT 20	GBR	RSM	ARA	THA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		36th	1
2019	Moto3	Honda	QAT 11	ARG 17	AME 11	SPA 9	FRA Ret	ITA	CAT 6	NED 6	GER 7	CZE 6	AUT 12	GBR 10	RSM Ret	ARA 2	THA Ret	JPN 14	AUS 14	MAL 4	VAL 10		10th	109
2020	Moto3	Honda	QAT 3	SPA 2	ANC Ret	CZE 3	AUT 4	STY 3	RSM 2	EMI 3	CAT 11	FRA 9	ARA 14	TER 9	EUR 3	VAL 8	POR 8						3rd	170
2021	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 17	DOH 5	POR Ret	SPA 7	FRA 7	ITA 6	CAT Ret	GER Ret	NED 6	STY 5	AUT 2	GBR 9	ARA 8	RSM 7	AME 7	EMI 9	ALR Ret	VAL			8th	120
2022	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 6	INA 6	ARG 3	AME 2	POR Ret	SPA 1	FRA 5	ITA 3	CAT 7	GER 8	NED 2	GBR 4	AUT 1	RSM 5	ARA 4	JPN 1	THA 6‡	AUS 11	MAL Ret	VAL Ret	2nd	242
2023	Moto2	Kalex	POR	ARG DNS	AME 15	SPA Ret	FRA 9	ITA 15	GER 14	NED 2	GBR 8	AUT 3	CAT 7	RSM 5	IND 21	JPN 2	INA 17	AUS 15‡	THA 5	MAL 4	QAT 4	VAL 11	9th	137.5
2024	Moto2	Boscoscuro	QAT 4	POR 5	AME 7	SPA 6	FRA 2	CAT 1	ITA 5	NED 1	GER 3	GBR 14	AUT DNS	ARA 8	RSM 1	EMI 4	INA 2	JPN 2	AUS 4	THA 2	MAL Ret	SLD	1st*	261*

^‡ Half points awarded as less than two thirds of the race distance (but at least three full laps) was completed.
* Season still in progress.

External links

• Ai Ogura at MotoGP.com
• Ai Ogura at AS.com (in Spanish)