Gaining experience at Misano, where the road has good grip
The Misano Circuit is a favorite track for Ai Ogura (Aprilia), and she finished 6th in the previous race, the Catalan Grand Prix. Given this, it was easy to hope for a good showing at the San Marino Grand Prix, but MotoGP is not that easy.
There was a reason for his sixth place finish at the Catalan GP. Ogura excels at riding carefully with his tires. His ability to maintain a steady pace from the beginning to the end of the race without dropping significantly has been a strength of Ogura’s since before he started in the Moto2 class.
That’s why, on circuits with low road grip like Catalunya, while the other riders’ times drop, Ogura is able to keep the drop in time to a minimum and fight.
On the other hand, the Misano Circuit, where the San Marino Grand Prix is held, has good road grip. On such circuits, other riders’ times improve. This is because they “know how to work hard on the bike.” The more effort they put in, the more the bike responds. And so their times improve. Ogura’s “improvement” is small. He has not been able to translate the good road grip into his times as well as other riders. Of course, this is referring to “Ogura right now.”
During a press conference on Thursday, Ogura said, “The road grip here seems to be really good. So, I wonder how it will go. I think it might be difficult.”
On Friday, Ogura finished practice in 21st place, missing out on direct entry into Qualifying 2 (Q2). If you finish in the top 10 in practice, you can advance directly to Q2. If you advance to Q2, your qualifying position will be confirmed as 12th or higher, so finishing in the top 10 in practice is very important.
The following Saturday, Ogura started qualifying in Q1 and placed 5th. This gave him 15th place overall. As the rider in front of him did not race in the sprint race, he started from 14th place and finished 12th.
That being said, Ogura, a rookie in the MotoGP class, has gained plenty of experience up to this point. It’s true that his standings aren’t as good as they were at the Catalan GP. However, as a rookie, almost every circuit will be his first time riding a MotoGP machine, so the most important thing for him now is to gain as much experience as possible for the future. That’s what Ogura is focusing on this season.
“I don’t think the improvement from Friday to Saturday was much different from other circuits. I think I was riding much better than on Saturday, and I think I was improving in the same way as usual,” Ogura said.
Of course, as a rider, Ogura is not satisfied. His expression says so. Naturally, he is making progress over the weekend.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s final race, Ogura said, “I hope I can perform in a way that makes me feel like I’ve grown from Saturday to Sunday.”
However, on the third lap of the final race, Ogura crashed at Turn 12. The crash was not shown on the broadcast, and no press conference was held that day, so the details of the incident are unknown. Ogura also did not take part in the official test the following day.
According to information from the team as of September 15th, an examination conducted on Monday morning revealed bone contusions at the base of the metacarpals (the lower part of the metacarpal bones) of the index, middle, and ring fingers of his right hand. He also had inflammation in all of his fingers, including his little finger, and swelling in his wrist and left heel.
The next race, the Japanese Grand Prix (September 26th-28th, Mobility Resort Motegi), will be Ogura’s home Grand Prix. We hope he makes a speedy recovery.
