11/05/2026

The history behind Ai Ogura’s breakthrough

Ai Ogura’s third place at the French Grand Prix was the first MotoGP podium for a Japanese rider since 2012. The result finally ended the longest barren run for the country since Hideo Kanaya opened its rostrum account at the 1973 French GP.

It’s worth taking a moment to put that into context because for Japan to endure 14 years without so much as a podium, particularly given the number of races in the modern schedule, was unthinkable at almost any point since that day at Paul Ricard.

Given the power of the country’s manufacturers, which first came to the fore in the top class in the 1960s, even Kanaya’s podium for Yamaha was perhaps overdue. But once that first top-three finish was in the books, they came steadily enough to be accepted as part of the premier class landscape. Until they ground to a halt with the tally on 93 after Katsuyuki Nakasuga’s charge to second place at that wet 2012 finale, that is.

Admittedly, success was sporadic in the 1970s and ’80s, with most podiums coming courtesy of Kanaya (five) and Takazumi Katayama (eight).

It was only in the 1990s that Japanese riders — almost invariably riding for one of their homeland’s factories — began to register consistently strong results. The likes of Shinichi Itoh, Norick Abe, Tadayuki Okada and the Aoki brothers became top names in the 500cc category.

Another wave came along just after the turn of the century, led by Tohru Ukawa and the late Daijiro Katoh. Makoto Tamada also emerged as a frequent performer for Honda, and it was nothing out of the ordinary when he won his home grand prix in 2004. In fact, he wasn’t even the only local on the Motegi podium that day, with Shinya Nakano completing it for Kawakasi.

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, Ai Ogura, Trackhouse Racing

Photo by: Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images

Few could have guessed at that stage that it would remain Japan’s last grand prix win to this day, as the country’s success on the rider front dropped off a cliff. Tamada was third in Japan in 2005, Nakano second at Assen in 2006 — and that was it until the outlier that was Valencia 2012.

Only then did the real drought begin, however. This is partly because the Japanese factories have leaned towards European riders in more recent times. All the more ironic, then, that it was a man on a European bike who finally began knocking on the door of the podium.

Ogura came close to ending the barren patch in the USA in March, but a mechanical problem robbed him of a likely third place. At Le Mans, however, the waiting was finally over after he put on one of his customary late-race charges to take third.

That it took an Italian machine to get a Japanese rider back into the top three is still notable — and it’s a situation Yamaha hopes to address by having signed Ogura for next season. But those with long memories will know that it’s not the first time a Japanese rider has made the podium on an Aprilia.

Rewind to 1999, and the record books will show two third places for Tetsuya Harada, star rider in the punchy Aprilia project of the time. But those results, in France and Great Britain, are the only other examples of a Japanese rider taking a podium on a non-Japanese bike.

Following Ogura’s third place at Le Mans, Japan now has 94 podiums in total. That puts it seventh on the all-time list, which is led by Italy with 795. Next up are Spain, the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia and France.