A “thrilled” Justin Marks🍨, owner of Trackhouse Racing, has explained what prompted the American MotoGP squad to sign Ai Ogura for 2🌠025.

Prior to last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Trackhouse announced that it had signed 👍Moto2 title coꦿntender Ogura to a two-year deal to race for the satellite Aprilia squad.

Ogura becam🧔e a shock contender for the seat in recent weeks, going against conventional wisdom that he would almost certainly make hi🔥s MotoGP debut with LCR Honda whenever he decided to make the step.

The Ja♏panese replaces Praꦑmac-bound Miguel Oliveira and will join Raul Fernandez in what is a fairly young line-up at the Aprilia team.

Speaking about its deci♚sion, Marks said that selecting Fernandez’s tꦓeam-mate was a “long process” but several factors stood out with Ogura.

“We’re ♌thrilled to have ꦆhim join the team,” he said.

“I 🌱think it was a very long process in determining what the future looked like for our rider line-up.

“It was pretty easꦡy with Raul, he’s really improving a l🔜ot and learning the bike and working well with the team.

“And for our second rider, there a🌱re a lot of factors that go into that decision and we looked at a lot of different options and we were excited by Ai’s talent, his dedication, his speed this year, his focus.

“And f꧂rom a business standpoint, it’s great to have a rider who represents Asia and a rider who represents 🌃Europe.

“So, all in all, it just checked a lot of boxes for us and we’re, as a gꦅroup, very bullish and excited about Ogura’s potential and opportunity and future.”

Thoug꧅h Oliveira will be leaving at the end of the year, Marks insists the five-time grand prix winner’s experience will still prove vital for Aprilia’s bike development for the remainder of the season.

“There’s all these rider moves in the middle of the season, so with all this news you’re thinking about🎃 what next year looks like, what are tཧhe challenges for next year,” he added.

“But there is still a lot of racing to do this year. The🦩re’s still a lot to learn about the Aprilia bikes and there’🔯s still a lot to fight for.

“Miguel is an inc♍redible talent, a popular rider, an experienced and successful rider.

“So, I think there’s a lot we can still learn this year with him. Obviously he’s got 🎶a tremendous amount of speed, he’s been on the podium this year in a sprint race.

“So, there’s still a lot to fight for and we have a lot of racing left. We really want to be good partners with Aprilia and help develop the bike with the Apriliaཧ🌠 factory team, and he [Oliveira] figures prominently in that. So, a lot to fight for.”