Ogura ‘debuts’ in the top-3 protocol: “What is better for me to learn, Italian or Spanish?”

A post-race full of laughs

Ai Ogura in Texas was denied his first MotoGP podium by a technical problem, but yesterday in Le Mans nothing prevented the Japanese rider from achieving his first top-3 in the premier class at the end of what is becoming a trademark of the Japanese rider, namely an unstoppable comeback that with one more lap even Marco Bezzecchi would not have resisted.

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Ogura therefore found himself for the first time in the podium room alongside Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin. The two teammates from the official Aprilia team analyzed their performance in front of the highlights of the GP with Bezzecchi telling Martin that he realized he had no chance the moment he saw the Spaniard had passed Acosta immediately climbing behind the Italian.

Bezzecchi and Martin congratulated Ogura and Bezzecchi acknowledged that if there had been one more lap to go Ogura would have beaten him, a statement to which Ogura replied “Yes yes yes” provoking a colorful response from Bezzecchi that triggered a good collective laugh.

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On the car that took the three to the next phase of the awards protocol Ogura made himself heard interrupting the monologue of his brand-mates: “So should I learn Spanish or Italian?” referring to the fact that he felt quite excluded from the conversation, Martin apologized acknowledging that it is right to speak English and that the ‘common ground’ in terms of language must be their problem and not his.

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