Ai Ogura ‘needs challenging weekend’ in Argentina after star MotoGP debut

Trackhouse MotoGP rookie Ai Ogura admits this weekend’s Argentine Grand Prix is “not one of my favourites” but reckons he “needs” a “challenging weekend”.

The reigning Moto2 champion stunned in his debut at the season-opening Thai GP two weeks ago, as he took his satellite Aprilia to fourth and fifth in both races.

Coming to the Argentina round as the leading Aprilia in the standings, Ogura is expected to have another strong weekend at a track the Italian manufacturer has gone well at in recent years.

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Ogura has just one podium to his credit at Termas de Rio Hondo from Moto2 in 2022 and doesn’t count the track as one of his strongest.

With no prior testing at the Argentine venue unlike at Buriram, Ogura is aware that he may slide down the order this weekend - but doesn’t see this as a bad thing.

“I was happy about my result, but the team was really happy about the whole weekend,” he told MotoGP’s Gear Up show on Thursday.

“The team atmosphere is really nice now and everybody is really motivated.

“It’s not one of my favourite circuits. As Davide [Brivio] says, maybe there are good weekends and maybe there are bad weekends, but as a rookie I’m ready to take everything.

“But we’ll see how we start on Friday and my target is to always give my maximum. So, same target for this weekend.

“For sure before Thai GP I had two days of testing in Buriram circuit.

“So, I think this time things are a bit different compared to official test in Malaysia or the GP weekend in Thailand.

“So, it will be a challenging weekend but that’s really nice and maybe that’s what I need now. I’m ready to have fun here and we’ll see what happens.”

Though anticipating a harder weekend, Ogura added that the flowing nature of the Rio Hondo track will be better-suited to him than Buriram was.

“I watched the race, where I could improve, where I was good, where I was bad. Nothing special,” he noted.

“As I said after the race, 13 laps behind Pecco [Bagnaia] is something really quality for me and I could see the difference between the top riders and me now.

“Luckily, this type of circuit is not really stop-and-go corners, so I hope I can be competitive this weekend.”