Ogura dreads wet races at Phillip Island: “I’ll be very slow!”

Ai Ogura made it clear in the run-up to the MotoGP event at Phillip Island that he had very low expectations for the upcoming race weekend. No wonder, given that the Trackhouse rider was mostly found in the bottom third of the timesheets last year. Ogura-san has always struggled on the Australian circuit. The Japanese rider was therefore all the more surprised on Friday to have qualified directly for Q2 on Saturday. At the end of the one-hour afternoon session, the Japanese rider clocked the fourth-fastest time.

The Tokyo native had already started the race weekend in 8th place in the first free practice session that morning: “It’s my best performance so far on this circuit.” He hadn’t expected to find himself in the top 10, let alone among the fastest five riders. Curiously, in the afternoon session, the future Yamaha works rider clocked the exact same lap time, down to the thousandth of a second, as Ducati ace Marc Marquez, who had been the fastest rider that morning.

Ai Ogura: Nur schnell bei schönem Wetter?

Foto: Gold and Goose

The biggest difference for Ogura on Friday? “It’s warmer. That gives me a better feel for the front tyre, so I can push harder, and then everything else just falls into place.” The bad news for the Tokyo-based rider is the weather forecast for the rest of the weekend. The dry conditions of Friday’s first sessions are set to give way to rain as Saturday progresses, with temperatures dropping accordingly. For the man wearing number 72, this presents the most challenging scenario imaginable for the remaining sessions: “I’ll have problems – that much I can predict.”

What’s more: “I’ll be very slow!” Of course, he wants to give it his all on a wet track too, but Ogura is well aware: “It’s my weak point. I need much more time to build up confidence in bad weather. But that’s a problem I need time to overcome.” In the barely two years he has spent in MotoGP, the former Moto2 World Champion has gained too little experience in wet conditions in the premier class. Should the forecasts prove accurate, he will have further opportunities to do so over the course of the race weekend in Australia.

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23.10.2026 - 23:35