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Drama for Trackhouse-Aprilia: Ai Ogura penalised, Raul Fernandez out!

Ai Ogura has lost his MotoGP sprint points due to a tyre pressure penalty. Raul Fernandez was declared unfit to race following a medical assessment ahead of Sunday’s race at Phillip Island.

MotoGP

24.10.2026 - 08:58

This article is an automatically generated English version. The Original Article was published in German.

Nachträgliche Strafe: Ai Ogura rutschte aus den Punkten
© Gold & Goose

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25.10.2026 - 00:35

It was a bitter Saturday for Trackhouse-Aprilia at the MotoGP weekend at Phillip Island: following the sprint, Ai Ogura received an eight-second time penalty for having insufficient air pressure in his front tyre. As a result, the Japanese rider dropped from 6th to 14th place and lost his four points. Team-mate Raul Fernandez has had to cut short his weekend for health reasons.

The Spaniard was forced to retire from the Sprint after 9 of 13 laps due to a finger injury. He broke his right index finger – which he normally uses for braking – in a crash in Indonesia. The strain at Phillip Island proved to be greater than at Mandalika. The pain eventually became so severe that Fernández had to pull his Aprilia over.

Immediately afterwards, he was examined by the MotoGP Medical Director. The fracture is stable, but inflammation of the surrounding soft tissue was detected. Fernandez was therefore declared unfit to start Sunday’s race. Rehabilitation treatment is now intended to help reduce the inflammation.

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Nicht fit: Raul Fernandez geht am Sonntag nicht an den Start
© Gold & Goose

The Trackhouse rider will travel to Malaysia and undergo a further examination there on Thursday. Only then will a decision be made as to whether he can compete at Sepang. Fernandez had already expressed concerns on Friday, as the numerous hard braking zones there are likely to put particular strain on his injured hand.

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Ai Ogura has a difficult Saturday

For Ogura, Saturday initially looked set to end with at least a solid sprint result. During his media session, the Japanese rider was still unaware of the penalty that would later be imposed and assessed his performance positively.

“It didn’t go badly. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make up any positions after the start. My race pace was quite okay. I was satisfied with my riding,” explained the Aprilia rider.

The wet qualifying session had been a far more sobering experience. Ogura finished last in Q2, 5.2 seconds off the fastest time set by Ducati rider Marc Marquez. He’d already expected the rain to cause him difficulties on Friday. Nevertheless, the extent of the gap was a cause for concern.

Ai Ogura war im Nassen chancenlos
© Gold & Goose

“It went exactly as I’d expected. I knew I’m really slow in the wet. But five seconds in qualifying is too much. There’s still the warm-up tomorrow,” Ogura noted. For the Japanese rider, the lack of competitiveness in these conditions is a challenge that extends beyond the Australian weekend. “I have to do something about it. I can’t carry on like this for my whole career,” he emphasised.

Given the prospect of a wet race on Sunday, Ogura expressed his expectations with due caution. Whilst Aprilia performed strongly in dry conditions at Phillip Island, the rain presents him with a fundamental challenge. “It’ll be like a practice session for me. After four or five laps, I’m sure all the riders will have overtaken me. I’ll try to keep up with the riders, but it’ll be difficult,” explained Ogura.

Following the retrospective sprint penalty and Fernandez’s withdrawal, it is now entirely up to him to score points for Trackhouse at the Australian Grand Prix. Due to Jorge Martin’s injury, only two of the four Aprilia riders will be on the grid.

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