AI OGURA PINPOINTS BRAKE-ANGLE ISSUE AFTER SILVERSTONE CRASH

Ai Ogura said he knows exactly what caused his costly crash during the 2026 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Trackhouse Racing rider had slipped back at the start, but by lap 10 he was running in fifth when he went down at the final chicane. Speaking after the race, Ogura explained that the fall came from a specific setup change: “A bit more angle with the same amount of brake pressure.”

The incident proved expensive in the championship fight. Ogura’s crash cost him 20 points, widening the gap to leader Jorge Martin, who is now 37 points clear of the Japanese rider. Even with the setback, Ogura believes the performance picture among the Aprilia riders remains tight. “I feel like we all are very close,” he said. He added that momentum can swing quickly from one weekend to the next: “In one weekend, two guys are really strong; in another weekend, another two guys are really strong.” Ogura also described the overall variation as small, saying, “There will be up-and-down, but it’s really small.”

Ogura pointed to Raul Fernandez as an example of how quickly form can change. “Just this time Raul [Fernandez] was really strong,” he said, noting that after the Warm Up he could see it was the Spaniard’s day. Ogura’s own target had been clear: “When I saw his data after the Warm Up today, I could see definitely it was his day and my target was to finish P3, P4 more or less. But wasn’t good enough.”

The race also began with trouble for Ogura before the crash ever happened. He said his start device failed to disengage when he braked for turn one, leaving him without rear suspension for the first two corners. “Wasn’t sure about Raul [Fernandez] and Jorge [Martin],” Ogura explained. “I was just adapting to them and I forgot to brake hard enough to turn off the rear device, and I lost a couple of positions.” He insisted the situation was not frightening: “But nothing scary, I just couldn’t lean like usual.”

Looking back, Ogura believes the turn-one issue may have prevented him from challenging for the podium even if he hadn’t crashed. “I think it was very difficult to do that [get back to the podium] today,” he said. After the crash, he watched the race and assessed what was possible, pointing to Alex Marquez’s pace as he closed on Marco Bezzecchi. “Alex [Marquez] had a really good pace, catching Bez [Marco Bezzecchi], and their pace was pretty good, too, so probably P5 [was possible].”