Ai Ogura delivered a quiet but impressive display at the Hungarian MotoGP, climbing from the back of the grid to finish 11th at Balaton Park.
The Trackhouse Aprilia rookie crossed the line 18.112s behind race winner Marc Marquez, but his second-half pace told a different story. From lap 13 onwards, only Marquez and runner-up Pedro Acosta were faster.
At mid-distance Ogura was 13.979s adrift in 14th. Over the final 13 laps, he lost just 4.113s to Marquez, averaging 0.3s per lap slower while running the soft rear tyre compared to the Ducati rider’s medium.
Acosta was only 1.6s quicker than Ogura in that phase, while podium finisher Marco Bezzecchi was 1.8s slower. Team-mate Jorge Martin, who finished fourth, was also 1.5s off Ogura’s late-race pace. Fabio Quartararo matched Ogura closely, just 0.2s down across the second half despite serving a long lap penalty.
Ogura admitted his early race limited his final result: “My pace wasn’t too bad and I gained positions, but most came from crashes and penalties. From my starting spot, I didn’t gain much myself in terms of results.”
After a strong rookie start with top-five finishes at Buriram, Ogura has struggled to repeat that form. A leg fracture at Silverstone further hampered his season, leaving him 16th in the championship on 58 points. Rival Fermin Aldeguer, meanwhile, sits eighth with 126 points after showing podium pace despite a crash in Hungary.
