The rider Ai Ogura has expressed his frustration after failing to achieve his first podium in MotoGP during the United States Grand Prix, held at COTA, due to a mechanical issue.
Ogura, who started the race from the tenth position after a challenging qualifying session, displayed exceptional performance during the race. Once again, the Trackhouse Racing rider made an impressive comeback, achieving the fastest lap of the race and reaching fourth place on lap 13.
His attempts to reach the podium were thwarted by a mechanical failure that occurred just a few laps later. Although he did not want to go into details about the nature of the problem, his team, led by Davide Brivio, confirmed that it was a problem with the engine.
“Our speed was enough to achieve the podium,” Ogura reflected. “It was the first time I matched the winner’s pace. I consider it to be my best performance so far.”
The Japanese rider highlighted the qualities of his bike, which had shown good performance in braking. “I gained a lot of time in braking. Nowadays, the grip was less compared to yesterday, and that helped me perform better.” According to him, the bike offered him a lot of confidence.
This positive impression of his machine has also been corroborated by other riders like Alex Marquez from Gresini Ducati, who acknowledged that Aprilia bikes have great stability and grip. “Their bike seemed to have great stability, unlike ours, which we still struggle to find the performance limit.”
With this result, Ogura adds another missed opportunity in a challenging start to the season. Despite everything, the spectacle shown in the race hints at his potential and that of the team to fight for the top positions in the upcoming events of the championship.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
