Ogura becomes the first Japanese winner in a Japanese GP since 2006 and closes the gap to Fernandez in the Championship
Ai Ogura has closed the gap to two points at the top of the Moto2™ World Championship after becoming the first Japanese rider to win a Grand Prix on home soil since Hiroshi Aoyama in 2006. The Idemitsu Honda Team Asia pilot beat Championship leader Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) to victory by just over a second after 22 laps around the Mobility Resort Motegi. Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) took the chequered flag in third, meaning all of the podium finishers started outside the top 10.
Ogura makes big progress from Row 5
When the lights went out, Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools Speed Up) made a good start but ran wide at the first corner and pole-sitter Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) emerged with the lead as they exited Turn 2. From only 13th on the grid, two positions behind Fernandez, Ogura was making rapid progress as he passed Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) at the 90 Degree Corner (Turn 11) on Lap 1 to take up fifth, behind Canet, Aldeguer, Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda team Asia), and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team). The top two quickly gapped the rest to the tune of one second as Fernandez ran in 10th at the end of the standing lap.
Ogura passed Arbolino for fourth on Lap 2 at the 90 Degree Corner and that became third position when Aldeguer crashed out of second place at Turn 5 on Lap 3. The Speed Up rider’s spill had given Canet a margin of almost two seconds over the rest, but then he threw that away on Lap 4 when he crashed at the V Corner (Turn 9), meaning Chantra inherited first position. By then, Arbolino had regained the upper hand in his battle with Ogura and the local was in fact back to fourth after being passed by Lopez, who had progressed all the way from 12th on the grid. Behind Ogura sat Jake Dixon (Shimoku GASGAS Aspar Team) in fifth while Fernandez had by then risen to sixth.
Lopez was not done, either. On Lap 5, he overtook Arbolino for second place at the V Corner, then Ogura was through on ‘Tiger Tony’ and back into the podium positions at the 90 Degree Corner. Lopez was first, and Ogura second, after an apparent error on Lap 7 saw Chantra drop to third, before Fernandez passed Dixon for fifth at the start of Lap 8. Arbolino reclaimed third…