The other Aprilia podium at Le Mans that represents a major win for MotoGP

Aprilia’s historic 1-2-3 at the MotoGP French Grand Prix was completed by Ai Ogura, who chalked up his first podium and ended a 14-year drought for Japan.

Trackhouse caused a stir midway through 2024 when it announced it had signed Ai Ogura to a two-year deal.

That contract aged tremendously by the end of that season, with Ogura winning the Moto2 title, before breaching the top five in his MotoGP debut in 2025 on the satellite Aprilia.

In last weekend’s French Grand Prix, he worked his way through from the third row of the grid to snatch a podium place late on.

It was his first in MotoGP, and came weeks after he had one cruelly snatched from him by a technical issue at the US Grand Prix.

Japan’s MotoGP podium drought has ended

Though Japan has a strong association with MotoGP, it has gone without podium success for well over a decade now.

Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga was the most recent podium finisher for the country before Ogura, though this came in 2012 in a bizarre wet race in Valencia.

Before that, the last dry podium for a Japanese rider was in 2006, when Shinya Nakano was second at Assen.

Ogura also represents a major milestone for MotoGP Sports Entertainment (formerly Dorna Sports), with the Trackhouse star the first rider from the Asia Talent Cup to score a MotoGP podium.

“For sure, I feel like the Japanese riders are growing in a good way now,” Ogura said after the French Grand Prix. “I was thinking to have another boost, and if this podium makes another boost to them, then it’s perfect for me. So, it’s good.”

He added: “Especially like the races after Thailand, [in Brazil and Austin], we really wanted to have one podium.

“So, super, super happy about the race. Not so much to say. Thank you to all the Trackhouse team.”

Ogura’s race pace is being held back by qualifying results

Ogura displayed immense pace in the latter stages of the race, which is something he has done repeatedly in 2026.

His average pace worked out slightly faster than Marco Bezzecchi’s in second, and was on par with race-winner Jorge Martin’s. He was 0.874s from the lead at the chequered flag.

“Race is 27 laps and how to use 27 laps, everybody is different,” he said. “So, it’s good to have late race pace, but I’m third…”

Ogura qualified ninth at Le Mans, which became eighth on Sunday after Marc Marquez was ruled out through injury. In the previous two rounds, he was 11th, while in Thailand he was eighth. Brazil represents the high point, with Ogura sixth on the grid.

His lower starting positions are pinning him back from really tapping into the potential of his strong late-race pace. At Le Mans, a failed overtake on Fabio Quartararo in the early stages cost him crucial time.

These are battles that can happen further down the pack, but which ultimately prove too costly.