It had been coming for a little while but Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) can now call himself a MotoGP winner after a stunning victory at the Dutch GP. Japan has a new MotoGP hero to get behind and the #79 is up there with other greats from his country and beyond in some exclusive lists.
JOINING THE CLUB: Ai Ogura’s win puts him in exclusive company
125 – Ogura becomes the 125th rider to win a Grand Prix in MotoGP.
96 – It was Japan’s 96th podium in MotoGP, just four away from the 100-mark where only six countries have reached before: Italy, Spain, USA, Great Britain, Australia and France.
22/24 – Japan had to wait 22 years for premier class success again – the last time was Makoto Tamada who clinched victory at home at Motegi in 2004, his second and final victory. When Tamada took that victory, Ogura was 3 years old. Also, Ogura’s qualifying performances make a bit of history: pole at Brno and P2 at Assen mean it’s back-to-back front rows with a Japanese rider on them for the first time since Tohru Ukawa in 2002.
18 – Ogura adds his name to the list of winners currently in MotoGP, making him the 18th – just four riders are yet to win in the premier class: Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP).
13 – Ogura’s win is the 13th for Japan but Assen had hosted one of those previous wins: Okada’s in 1999 who also converted his pole position. 480 Grands Prix later, history repeats itself…
9 – It was quite the back-to-back for Ogura as in Brno, he became just the ninth rider since 2012 (the year of Moto3’s inception) to take a pole in Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP.
9 – He is also the ninth rider to claim their first win at the TT Circuit Assen, joining: Nello Pagani, Remo Venturi, Barry Sheene, Will Hartog, Jack Middelburg, Alex Criville, Ben Spies and Jack Miller.
7 – The Japanese star is the 7th different winner from his country, joining the likes of: Hideo Kanaya, Takazumi Katayama, Norick Abe, Tadayuki Okada, Tohru Ukawa and Makoto Tamada.
1-2 – For the SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team, a double 1-2 in the Sprint and GP – only the Ducati Lenovo Team have managed that before: Motegi, 2025.
THE FIRSTS: Ogura makes history
1 – One of the most impressive things is that throughout MotoGP’s 77-year history, there had never been a Japanese winner on anything other than a Japanese motorcycle. Ogura’s win with Aprilia is the first Japanese win away from the Honda or Yamaha brand.
1 – The first rider from the Moto4 Asia Cup to take victory in MotoGP.
1 – Aprilia are now the only manufacturer to have all of their riders win a Grand Prix or Sprint in 2026; from Phillip Island last year, all of their riders have won a Grand Prix.
So, what next for the rider who is fourth in the Championship? There's never been back-to-back wins for a Japanese rider in MotoGP and they've never won in Germany... yet. Just 25 points split Ogura from the Championship lead - the last Japanese rider to lead the standings? Hideo Kanaya after the 1975 German GP at Hockenheim... will history repeat itself again more than half a century later?