Ai Ogura “excited” by Aprilia’s “really competitive” past Silverstone form

Rookie Ai Ogura remains Aprilia’s leading light in the 2025 MotoGP standings as the series rolls into Silverstone this weekend, a venue where the RS-GP has a strong past record.

Ogura is currently eleventh in the world championship standings - it would be eighth and ahead of rookie rival Fermin Aldeguer without the DSQ in Argentina - but only ranked 14th for the 'best qualifier' award.

Starting higher on the grid will thus be Ogura’s first task this weekend, at a track where he holds the Moto2 pole record time. 

Aprilia, meanwhile, started from the MotoGP pole position last year (and was third in the Sprint) with Aleix Espargaro, who won the 2023 Silverstone event after Grand Prix podiums in 2021 and 2022.

“It looks like the Aprilia was really competitive in Silverstone last year and the circuit is also a quite good one for me, so I’m excited to go there,” Ogura confirmed.

“The track is very long, so it’s not easy to understand everything - all parts of the track. I guess it will be a bit complicated with the MotoGP bike, that’s what I expect.

“It’s going to be tough and we’ll see how the conditions look. But, anyway, it’s not a bad circuit for me and I always have fun riding there.

“We’ll just work within the team and try our best to reach our 100% and have a good run in England.”

Meanwhile, team-mate Raul Fernandez used progress at the Jerez test to beat Ogura for the first time this season with seventh place last time at a dry-wet Le Mans.

It was the Spaniard’s first meaningful result of the year, and he’s looking to build momentum this weekend.

“We did a good job in France, so I’m very motivated to continue on this path,” said Fernandez. “I would like to continue with the good feeling we found… I can’t wait to be back on the bike in the UK!”

Team Principal Davide Brivio, who tasted British MotoGP victory twice as a team manager for Suzuki, said:

“We were happy to see Raul improving and we will continue our path with Ai in his rookie season. Silverstone is a great circuit - it’s a good opportunity to assess our progress.”