The MotoGP festival celebrating 100 years of the Dutch TT should have been a celebration for Ai Ogura… but for the Japanese rookie from Aprilia TrackHouse, it was a real ordeal. Absent every day of the festivities, Ogura left Assen without any points, but at least he left unscathed.
Yet, everything had started again for him. After his injury in the GP tests at Silverstone, Ogura had signed a solid return to the Mugello by securing a fine 10th place. But on the legendary Dutch track, fate was once again cruel.
Assen, the scene of his torments, hit him three times. From Friday, Ogura suffered a violent highside, the kind of crash even his rivals wouldn't want to experience. While the TrackHouse Aprilia caught fire, the session had to be interrupted. Fortunately, unlike at Silverstone, the Moto2 world champion was able to continue the race.
But the ordeal did not end there. Ogura made a second mistake during the qualifications, then again during the Grand Prix. After just 32 seconds of racing, the TrackHouse duo were already in the gravel, scoring for Ogura his ninth fall of the season, even though he is far from being a kamikaze.
Ai Ogura: three falls, zero points… but resilience intact
Ogura wanted to clarify the latest mishap: " Unfortunately there was an accident at Turn 5 and I was on the outside, so I couldn't avoid the drivers who had made contact »
Despite a difficult weekend, the Japanese keeps a cool head: "It's a shame our weekend ended like this, but These things happen. Now, we can only look forward to GermanyIt will be a new track for me in MotoGP, but I'm looking forward to racing there. We lost a lot of important sessions here at Assen, so next time we'll try to be as well prepared as possible. The goal will be a good Friday, a good Saturday and to finish Sunday in the best possible shape. »
Meanwhile, Marco Bezzecchi shines at Aprilia with two podiums at Assen and gets closer to the MotoGP elite. Raul fernandez, meanwhile, came back strong, being only 5 points behindOgura, now 12th in championnat.
The only good news for the Japanese driver? He survived his series of crashes without further injury. Off to theGermany, Or Ogura hopes to finally reverse the trend.
MotoGP, Assen: race classification
Championship after Assen:
