Scott Ogden proved he was one to watch during his rookie season in Moto3 with a first row start and seven points scoring finishes across 2022.

Busy training and preparing ahead of his second season in Moto3 with the VisionTrack Racing squad, bikesportnews.com caught up with him after three days on track amid imposing company at Portimao.

“It’s been a good winter so far,” the 19-year-old said on Monday afternoon from the Portuguese track. “About a month back riding now, so I’m fairly happy. It’s not been the Moto3 prep I wanted, but we’ve been working on bigger bikes just to try and get a bit of strength because I lacked a little bit last year, so yeah, it’s been good. We’re going to some big tracks - at Portimao the last three days and then Jerez in about two weeks - so I’m getting the two tracks where we test at for Moto3 and then where we race at in the season. It’s nice, I feel good. I feel in a good place.

“We had some good guys here the last few days, [Pecco] Bagnaia, [Johann] Zarco, all the VR46 guys, so it was quite good to see where I stood. There’s definitely work to do, but we’re not far away.

“The big thing was just trying to get a bit more strength,” he continued, on how he’s been tweaking his off-season prep after a year of experience in the Grand Prix paddock. “When you’ve got eight races in Junior World Championship, it’s a little bit easier to continue the training throughout the year, whereas last year I sort of lacked that gym training just because it was so many races and when I came home, I didn’t want to train so much. It’s just about trying to build a good level of strength and fitness so I can try and maintain it throughout the year without too much difficulty.”

Speaking of the experience gained last year, how does he feel his rookie season went?

“The first half of the year was better than expected,” Ogden admitted. “It sort of dropped off at the end but I feel like I learnt more in the last half, because if I had another first half of the year I would maybe be going into this year probably not working as hard as I am now! Just because I want to prove to myself that I can ride better than I did at the start of the year, but if not, the same. I’ve just sort of said to myself, ‘I gotta try and improve myself and if the bike gets better as well, then it’s a big bonus’. But if I’m 0.5s faster than I was last year, then I’ll be happy and I’ll be able to get better results throughout the year.”

“I think for me, Portimao and Jerez are my two better tracks,” he continued. “Also Sachsenring was a bit of a surprise, I was at the front there as well. There’s two new tracks next year. I don’t know what they’re like, I don’t know if we’ll go to Kazakhstan, we’ll see what happens, but they look okay. I think it’s hard to see because no one’s really seen any videos of anyone riding them so it’ll be the same for everyone. I’m just looking forward to get another 20 races under my belt and hopefully make a step forward.

“Last year, when we went to Indonesia, I went into it thinking I’ve got to make a big step and prove myself but this year where I know all the tracks - yeah, we haven’t got a lot of data, but I know all the tracks so I feel for me it’s just working the same at each race, trying to improve the bike, trying to improve myself and, taking steps forward towards the front.”

2022 was also the rookie year for Ogden’s VisionTrack team, and while official Moto3 testing has yet to begin, one change has already been implemented for the number 19.

“I’ve got a new crew chief, which I’ve been working with the last few days in testing,” he explained. “At the moment, it seems like I’ve got a good relationship with him and better than the relationship I had last year - not that it was a bad relationship, but it was just difficult with the language barrier. So I’ve got an English guy now and it should be a good year.

“Definitely try to be a top ten guy every weekend,” he elaborated, when pushed on what a ‘good year’ translates as. “If I can finish top ten in the championship, I think it’s a good step but right now I want to win the first few races just because that’s what we’re training for.

“We’re training to win not to finished tenth but if we get top ten I think I’ll be satisfied.”