AI OGURA TONES DOWN TOP-THREE HOPES AFTER FRIDAY P5 IN SILVERSTONE

Ai Ogura played down expectations ahead of Sunday at Silverstone after a promising Friday that placed him fifth and secured a spot in Q2. On the first day of action, the Trackhouse rider—on the same team as Raul Fernandez—broke the 1:57 barrier for the first time over the weekend, clocking 1:56.810. His time was the fifth-best of the day, and it came after he had already managed to get into the top 10.

Despite the headline pace, Ogura was restrained in his assessment. “It was acceptable,” he said, adding that his lap time was “okay” and that finishing Friday in fifth was “good.” When asked to define what would have been unacceptable, he was more specific: “A lap time that isn’t enough for the top 10.” Crash.net also reported that his target for the day was to be in the top 10, and that he was “not expecting to finish in the top-three on Sunday.”

Silverstone also carries a difficult memory for the Aprilia rider. Last year, during FP1, he suffered a heavy highside in Turn 2 and landed hard on the asphalt, resulting in a fracture of the upper right shin bone. He was forced to withdraw from the rest of the weekend and then took weeks off. While he admitted he has limited track knowledge, he said he could still draw on the experience from that previous FP1, noting: “It was quite okay, at least I did FP1 last year.”

Ogura’s approach to the weekend reflects both recent form and caution. Before the summer break he had been on the podium three times, including his first MotoGP win at Assen. Crash.net added that he arrived at Silverstone as the highest-scoring rider over the past three races, with two seconds and a win in that time, which helped him rise to second in the MotoGP riders’ standings. Still, he lowered the bar for Silverstone: “I don’t expect to be in the top 3 on Sunday.” He hopes the weather stays stable and believes a top-6 result is realistic, with Crash.net also quoting him on conditions: “Hopefully we’ll have a good condition in the next two days.”

On Friday, he was also noted for spending much of the session riding alone. Asked about how he viewed the competition, he offered no direct answer. Off-track, he did share a positive moment from MotoGP’s public viewing event in London on Thursday: “I saw happy people, it was good.”

In the championship picture, Ogura heads into Saturday with a 14-point deficit to Jorge Martin, while Marc Marquez—who finished sixth on Friday and said he was “far from the podium”—is four points behind him.