As part of the Austrian Grand Prix, the Trackhouse team announces that Moto2 race winner Ai Ogura will move up to MotoGP next season
The Trackhouse-Aprilia team confirmed the second rider for the 2025 MotoGP season on Thursday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg: Ai Ogura moves up from Moto2 to MotoGP and will be Raul Fernandez’s new teammate at Trackhouse.
Ogura has signed a two-year contract with Trackhouse and will therefore ride for Justin Marks’ Aprilia satellite team until at least the end of 2026. Ogura has put in a consistently strong performance in the Moto2 World Championship this season and has a good chance of winning the title in second place behind MT Helmet team-mate Sergio Garcia.
“First of all, I would like to thank everyone involved in this project and everyone who has supported me. This is obviously a dream!” said a delighted Ogura. “MotoGP is the highest level you can reach, so of course I’m very happy to have made it. “
“I’m very happy that I can ride in the premier class and I can’t wait to do it together with the Trackhouse team. I can see that the team is really competitive and the bike is very strong and as a rider it’s my job to do everything I can,” commented the Japanese rider.
But before Ogura swings his leg over the MotoGP-Aprilia, he wants to finish the 2024 season in the best possible way. “Now I have to think about the Moto2 World Championship. I will try to finish this year as well as possible and arrive well prepared for 2025,” said the Boscoscuro rider.
Ai Ogura cuts the ribbon with Honda
The signing with Trackhouse-Aprilia is remarkable, as Ogura had a close relationship with the Honda racing department for many years. HRC had already offered Ogura a move up to MotoGP, but the Japanese rider was reluctant, no doubt due to Honda’s sporting situation
It is also surprising that the Trackhouse team decided against Joe Roberts, who is performing well this year and is currently the only US rider who is seriously considered for promotion to MotoGP.
Only a few places still available for the 2025 MotoGP season
With the confirmation of Ai Ogura at Trackhouse, the rider line-up for the 2025 MotoGP season continues to take shape. The remaining vacancies are as good as filled. Franco Morbidelli is expected to move from Pramac to VR46.
Fermin Aldeguer already has a contract with Ducati and will succeed Marc Marquez at Gresini. At LCR, Takaaki Nakagami will probably be replaced by Somkiat Chantra.
Only at Pramac is there still no certainty. It is expected that Miguel Oliveira will ride one of the two Yamaha M1s. It is conceivable that Jack Miller will return to Pramac and take over the last vacant seat for the 2025 season. This would mean that Sergio Garcia, the current world championship leader in Moto2, would have to contest another season in the middle category
