Why Ai Ogura played down P1 at Jerez MotoGP test, Fernandez “super fast”

Ai Ogura appeared to take a big step towards addressing one of the main obstacles between converting race pace into a debut MotoGP podium by topping Monday’s Jerez test.

However, the Japanese played down the significance of his late time attack.

“I feel like almost everybody else didn't do a time attack today,” he said. “I think it was just Raul Fernandez and me who did a proper time attack.

“I got only one shot in the last moment, and the other runs I was on a medium rear, so not much to say about the lap time.”

The Trackhouse Aprilia rider has started no higher than sixth this season and was forced to fight from outside of the top ten at the last two rounds, in dry and then wet qualifying conditions.

Ogura’s lowly grid positions have been compounded by a failure to replicate the fast-starting form of the factory RS-GPs - Jorge Martin vaulting from tenth to fourth on the opening lap of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Difficulties in extracting the maximum from new rubber have carried over to the early race laps, but Ogura’s pace was better than anyone over the last ten laps on Sunday.

Ogura and team-mate Raul Fernandez were the only riders to break the 1m 36s at the test, before which the pair worked on electronics, chassis set-up, suspension settings and new aero parts with the medium rear tyre.

“We have mainly been working on the medium tyre today and we were not really trying to do a time attack but, at the end, we went out with one soft rear to see how it is with the work we did over the day,” confirmed Ogura.

“I’m happy about the test, we did everything we planned beforehand - no crashes, no big issues, so overall it was good.

“In one day, it’s hard to make a big step but to understand a few things that are important for the next races, it was very helpful. It was a good test.”

Crew chief Giovanni Mattarollo explained: “We used the test today to focus on a few items that we have to work on to develop the bike.

“Then we worked on some strategies to develop and improve upon some weak points we had so far with Ai from the first part of the season, like the start for example.

“The idea was to do as many starts as possible, which we did and overall, it’s a good feeling to finish in P1.”

Fernandez, who has also struggled in qualifying, felt clear progress was made.

“I’m happy because I think we found something for the time attack which was the priority yesterday after we finished the race,” said the Spaniard, who lost fifth place to Ogura on the final lap of the grand prix.

“We had two rear soft tyres - with the first one, we felt like always - I was uncomfortable with the bike and couldn’t ride it as I want.

“But with the second one, we changed the bike a bit from the data and it looks like this worked well.

“I did a 1:35 for the first time in Jerez and was also improving almost three tenths in the second sector, but I was wide.

“I feel that we maybe found something which we need to confirm in Le Mans.”

"With everything we tried I was super fast"

Fernandez also felt stronger with race rubber.

“During the day we were working a lot with the medium tyre, we tried some aerodynamics, new chassis set-up and all these I liked a lot,” he said.

“With everything we tried I was super fast - I did a 1:36.2 two or three times with the medium rear as we were not just focused on the time attack but also work on the bike setup and the new developments Aprilia gave us.”

Crew chief Noe Herrera revealed: “We started with a reference from our race bike and after a few adjustments, especially on the electronic side, we worked on a new suspension setting, that Aprilia has developed.

“It seems like a small advantage for us, but we need to keep analysing that. We also tested many electronic settings which, especially on this track, was the ‘Achilles heel’ for us and found a good direction and improved.

“We also tried new aerodynamic parts, which have helped Raul with acceleration.

“Checking the data, it seems to be better for us, even if Raul didn’t feel it.

“It was a super good test, we were very fast with the medium and at the end, trying a different setup for the time attack, we also improved and found a way to use it for the future, which will be in Le Mans.”