Ai Ogura (Aprilia) disappointed: of all places, he missed out on Q2 at Motegi

Ai Ogura had to settle for 15th place in Friday’s MotoGP qualifying session at Motegi. The Trackhouse Aprilia rider did, however, manage to finish ahead of last year’s winner, Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati). Nevertheless, the Japanese rider was frustrated – he must now get through Q1 on Saturday morning to qualify for the crucial Q2 session.

Ogura’s Spanish Trackhouse team-mate Raúl Fernández also missed out on Q2, finishing in 13th place. Ogura: “It wasn’t a good day. I often had the front wheel locking up in the hard braking zones. That was the main problem today.” After a brief pause to reflect, he added: “The second bike then felt very similar to the number one bike.” He had to park his number one bike at the end of the start-finish straight at the start of the session due to engine failure.

Practice was interrupted for around ten minutes to clear the track, as the RS-GP had lost oil.

Ai Ogura

Foto: Gold & Goose

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Speaking about his performance in front of his home crowd, Ogura said: “It doesn’t make much difference. I don’t really feel any more pressure,” the 25-year-old dismissed the idea. “You simply have less time for the usual things. Of course, it took me much longer to get through my laps. But the rest doesn’t really make much difference.”

Exciting: Of all people, it was Fabio Quartararo – the Frenchman who rides for Ogura’s future employer, Yamaha – who stole the show from several other MotoGP stars at Motegi on Friday with a 7th-place finish.