Lucio Cecchinello has revealed Honda's reaction to Ai Ogura leaving the Japanese manufacturer for Trackhouse Racing.
The 2024 Moto2 World Champion, Ai Ogura, was expected to become Honda's next big Asian rider in the MotoGP World Championship.
When Ogura joined the Grand Prix paddock full-time in 2019, he arrived with the Honda Team Asia Moto3 squad, with whom he stayed with until he entered into Moto2 with the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia squad.
In 2024, Ogura switched to the MT Helmets – MSi squad, but continued to be supported by Honda, with the expectation that he would join LCR Honda in 2025.
However, as we know, the Japanese rider ended up joining the Trackhouse Racing MotoGP squad to ride an Aprilia RS-GP.
LCR Honda team owner, Lucio Cecchinello, has recently explained how 'no one expected' Ogura to leave Honda for Aprilia.
"At the end of 2024 Honda went to make deals with Ogura, but he declined the offer," Cecchinello told GPOne.
"No one expected this, Honda had supported his career from the beginning. But by then it was difficult to think about continuing with Nakagami, so Chantra was promoted."
He added, "It wasn't easy to get over that moment. From let's say, a relational point of view, the relationship between Honda and Ogura and this decision may not have been a walk in the park.
"However, I can tell you that Ai made his choice. We consulted with Honda, and they said What do we do?
"Alternatively, the other rider coming from the Asia Talent Cup strand, and it would have made sense to give him an opportunity, and it was Chantra."
Cecchinello continued: "Right now, I don't know if anyone at Idemitsu is questioning whether it is convenient to continue supporting the racing activities of the Asia Talent Cup, Moto3 and Moto2 projects.
"Doing so would mean staying true to their values, even taking responsibility for a sporting debacle. Maybe they are wondering whether to continue with Chantra until the bike becomes more competitive and then try to make an offer to Ogura to bring him back under Honda's wing."
