Could Ai Ogura become the 2025 MotoGP Rookie of the Year with Trackhouse Racing?
Ai Ogura was present in North Carolina for the Trackhouse Racing team launch ahead of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship.
The reigning Moto2 World Champion will make his debut in MotoGP later this year. The Japanese rider will ride for the satellite Aprilia Team and will get his second test with the RS-GP in two weeks.
The 23-year-old has had an intense winter ahead of his rookie season in the premier class. But the #79 is ready to get his debut year underway.
"My winter has been really great a lot of training days on the bike, and I had some relaxing days too," Ogura told MotoGP.com.
"Now I am just so excited about the start of the season, everything is new to me, the bike, the colours and the people around me. I can't wait to start, the first test is in two weeks."
Ahead of the opening race of the season in Thailand Ogura will have had eight days of testing. The workload will be large for the rookie, but it will put him in good shape ahead of the opening race.
"It was nice to have a preseason test after the season," Ogura explained. "After that I knew how to work in the winter, it was nice. I am going to have eight days of testing in total, which is a lot, but it is nice. It is nice to have eight days of testing before the season starts. Also, it is nice to have our first race in Thailand, so I can't wait to start."
Ogura claims that he does not have any specific aims for the preseason tests and he has not set himself any over-the-top targets for the 2025 season.
"Nothing special, I just need to learn as much as I can about the bike," Ogura stated. "That is the main thing and it is what I need to work on. For me there is no target like best rookie, or top 10, I just want to do my best every round, race and session. Just do my best, the result is the result."