Ai Ogura (小椋藍, Ogura Ai, born 26 January 2001) is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle racer who is currently competing in the 2024 Moto2 World Championship for MT Helmets – MSi. He previously competed in Moto2 and Moto3 for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, finishing as championship runner-up in 2022.
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.
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.
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.[2] 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.[3][4] His final position was third with a total of 170 points, with his best result being second in Jerez and Misano.
In 2021, Ogura was promoted to Moto2, riding for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia alongside Thai Somkiat Chantra.[5] 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.[6]
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.[7] 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.
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 has 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 wasn't allowed to restart as five minutes had already passed after the red flag had been shown.[8] He earned his first World Championship win in the sixth round in Jerez starting from pole position.[9] 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.[10]
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.[11] Ogura ultimately lost the championship to Fernández after crashing in the last round in Valencia. He finished as championship runner-up with 242 points.
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.[12] He started the season in COTA, and earned three podiums in total, one being second in his home race in Motegi.[13] Ogura came 9th in the standings with 137.5 points.
MT Helmets – MSi has announced that Ogura will join their Moto2 project for the 2024 Moto2 season.[14]
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.[15]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
‡ Half points awarded as less than two thirds of the race distance (but at least three full laps) was completed.
* Season still in progress.
