sUNday, March 16, 2025
Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, Argentina
Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, Argentina:
Track length: 2.99 miles / 4.81 kilometers
Warm Up:
10.40am – 10.50am – Dry Track
Air Temperature: 69.8°F / 21°C
Track Temperature: 78.8°F / 26°C
#79 Ai Ogura
P15 – Best Lap: 1’38.802 – Lap 4 of 6
Top speed: 211.76 mph / 340.8 km/h
#25 Raul Fernandez
P18 – Best Lap: 1’39.156 – Lap 6 of 6
Top speed: 205.61 mph / 330.9 km/h
RACE:
3pm – Dry track: 25 Laps – 74.66 miles / 120.15 kilometers
Air Temperature: 78.8°F / 26°C
Track Temperature: 96.8°F / 36°C
#79 Ai Ogura – P8 on the road – Post race disqualification. (Race Points: 0 Championship Standing: 8 Total Points: 17)
Race Time: 41’25.547
Best Lap: 1’38.879 – Lap 5 of 25
Average Speed: 108.12 mph / 174 Km/h
Top speed: 214.68 mph / 345.5 km/h
#25 Raul Fernandez – P15 (Race Points: 1 Championship Standing: 20 Total Points: 1)
Race Time: 41’38.014
Best Lap: 1’39.281 – Lap 8 of 25
Average speed: 107.56 mph 173.1 Km/h
Top speed: 214.68 mph / 345.5 km/h
Race Notes & Quotes:
Ai Ogura climbs to 8th and finishes top rookie, before bike technical infringement leads to disqualification.
Raul Fernandez progress slowed by Long Lap sanction.
Trackhouse MotoGP Team raced for the first time in Argentina, the first of three race weekends south of the Equator, in the iconic Gulf livery design that was unveiled ahead of Round 1, in Thailand. This was only the second time a MotoGP bike has carried the full color scheme for the iconic fuel and lubricants manufacturer.
Trackhouse MotoGP Team had scored 8 World Championship points with Ai Ogura’s performance, climbing from 15th to 8th position at the finish of the race, only for the team to suffer disqualification of the #79 bike due to an error in the homolagated firmware loaded onto his race bike. Despite the error giving no performance advantage, Ai loses the 8 points he scored in the Grand Prix and heads to the team‘s home race - at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas – lying in 8th position in the team points standings. R.02 Grand Prix of Argentina spectator attendance: Sunday – 79,227 Weekend – 208, 979
Trackhouse MotoGP Team Standing:
Championship Points: 18
Position: 7th
Next Race: Grand Prix of the Americas. March 28-30 – Circuit of the Americas
AI OGURA- Grid position: P15 – Started on Front: medium – slick tire & Rear: medium – slick tire
- Up to P10 on Lap 1 and P9 by Lap 4. Lapping consistently, on Lap 6 climbed to P8 and except for Laps 15 and 16 in P9, ran well in eight – finishing with strong pace but just unable to improve to P7 as the checkers flew.
- First Aprilia at the finish and top rookie finisher.
- A technical error led to the installation of the wrong ECU onto the #79 race bike used for the Grand Prix of Argentina which the Stewards panel deemed an infringement of the homologation rules after the race and therefore disqualified Ai from the results. It is accepted that the error gave no performance advantage to Ai on track as the electronic setting on the bike was correct but loaded with the incorrect firmware. Ai’s performance was flawless and despite riding a great race from 15th to finish 8th, through no fault of his own, his bike did not conform to its current homologation.
“The race was really good. I was lucky after the start and gained a lot of positions and after that, I could pass a few riders, I was riding with very good pace. In Warm Up we found something and that made it a lot easier to go faster in the race. I think on the brakes, I was ok to pass the other riders, but against Binder, it was really tough to get past. On the exit, I had a bit more compared to him but on the brakes, he was doing very well. I was a little bit disappointed about my last lap, that I couldn’t find a way to pass Binder, but anyway, it was a great race and I’m really happy about today. I’m happy about the weekend, but especially Sunday. It is a great sadness that the result cannot stand.”
RAÚL FERNÁNDEZ- Grid position: P17 – Started on Front: medium – slick tire & Rear: medium – slick tire
- Up to P13 on Lap 1 and then back to P15 on Laps 2 and 3. Briefly made it back to 14th place before being instructed to serve a Long Lap riding infingement penalty on Lap 5. After the additional time lost, just over 3 seconds, dropped to 17th place and ran there for 20 laps, gaining a place to finish P16 at the end of the race. Elevated to 15th after Ai's disqualification.
- Race stewards deemed that Raul had made contact with #23 Enea Bastiannini, leading to a crash and served the Long Lap penalty immediately, during the race. Raul served the penalty within 1 lap of the sanction.
“First of all, I’m happy with the new steward panel. You can speak with them and can explain your point of view. I agree only 50% with the penalty, because I touched with Enea (Bastianini) a little bit, but he crashed alone because he didn’t pick up the bike. But I’m still happy with the stewards - this is a step for us. Apart from that, we changed the bike again today - I got on this bike in Thailand, when I was injured and I didn’t feel so well with my body and maybe that was a mistake, because we lost the line a little bit. In Thailand it was more or less good but here, after two days, the bike didn’t work like I want. So, we came back to the way I had last year and that was the key to feel competitive again. My starting position wasn’t the best, plus the penalty, but lap by lap I felt the pace to fight with them. I had a very similar pace like Fabio (Quartararo), who was much faster than us yesterday. This gives me the feeling we improved. In the last part of the race, I felt very good with the bike and the tires, so I am very motivated to go to Texas.”
“A great day again for Ai. He did a great recovery, starting in P15 and finishing eighth but especially what we really enjoyed are the fights with many experienced riders, overtaking when it’s not so easy to do, overall, it was very good, another great weekend from Ai despite the starting position. We go forward, keep going. Raul unfortunately, had this penalty. There’s nothing you can do. This penalized all his race. It looks like at the end, he was comfortable with the bike, he was doing well and could have probably get a good place but he couldn’t use it. Anyway, his feeling with the bike improved and now we hope we can restart from there in Austin.”“The post race sanction against Ai is very disappointing. We have to accept the decision of the Stewards but feel very sorry for Ai because this didn’t give him any advantage and it’s so disappointing to take away points from a great race and the great performance that he did on track. It doesn’t take away anything for what he has done. It was just a wrong version of the software in the ECU. He did a great race, a fantastic recovery and we move on and we will continue.”
- DAVIDE BRIVIO, TEAM PRINCIPAL
