SUNDAY May 11, 2025
Le Mans Bugatti Circuit, France
Le Mans Bugatti Circuit, France:
Track length: 2.6 miles / 4.185 kilometers
Warm Up: 9.40am – 9.50am – Wet TrackA
ir Temperature: 59°F / 15°C
Track Temperature: 60.8°F / 16°C
#25 Raul Fernandez
P18 – Best Lap: 1’47.415 – Lap 5 of 6
Top speed: 185.48 mph / 298.5 km/h
#79 Ai Ogura
P22 – Best Lap: 1’50.919 – Lap 4 of 6
Top speed: 183.30 mph / 295.8 km/h
RACE: 2pm – Wet track: 26 Laps – 63.26 miles / 108.81 kilometers
Air Temperature: 60.8°F / 16°C
Track Temperature: 66.2°F / 19°C
#25 Raul Fernandez – P7 (Race Points: 9 Championship Standing: 18 Total Points: 15)
Race Time: 46’57.843 Best Lap: 1’34.472 – Lap 3 of 26
Average speed: 86.37 mph 139 Km/h Top speed: 195.42 mph / 314.5 km/h
#79 Ai Ogura – P10 (Race Points: 6 Championship Standing: 10 Total Points: 43)
Race Time: 47’14.070 Best Lap: 1’34.641 – Lap 3 of 26
Average Speed: 85.87 mph / 138.2 Km/h Top speed: 192.99 mph / 310.6 km/h
Race Notes & Quotes:
Double points finish for Trackhouse MotoGP Team after French weather produces a crazy race. #25 Raul Fernandez makes progress through the weekend and comes home in 7th place and best Aprilia finisher. #79 Ai Ogura masters a steep learning experience with a cool and calm performance for 10th place.Huge crowds greeted Trackhouse and its two riders #25 Raul Fernandez and #79 Ai Ogura each day at the Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans. Over 120,000 fans on Sunday witnessed a dramatic French Grand Prix with an event record cumulative total of over 311,000 visitors.
Friday once again proved challenging for Trackhouse MotoGP Team with both Raul and Ai crashing – Raul on his very first lap out in Free Practice 1 and Ai halfway through the all-important Practice session. As a result, neither was able to gain direct entry into Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session.
Saturday dawned bright in north western France and brought mixed fortunes in the first Qualifying session. Ai Ogura crashed in the early stages and never found enough pace with his second Aprilia RS-GP25 to finish in the top two and progress into Q2 while Raul Fernandez showed the pace he has been promising to finish second and get into the final Qualifying.
For Raul, 10th place on the grid for the Sprint and French Grand Prix was vindication for him and his team after intensive work to figure out how to extract pace from the #25 RS-GP25.
The Sprint saw Raul’s form continue as he just missed points in 10th place while Ai found the going harder from his starting position of 19th and made it to 14th by the checkers.
Sunday brought rain and with it a dramatic 26 Lap Grand Prix – with double points for America’s only MotoGP Team: 7th place for Raul and 10th for Ai. Good vibes leaving France ahead of the trip over the Channel to England for the British Grand Prix in two weeks.Trackhouse MotoGP Team Standing: Championship Points: 58 Position: 8th
Next Race: Grand Prix of the United Kingdom. May 23 - 25 – Silverstone Circuit
RAÚL FERNÁNDEZ
Grid position: P7 – Started on Front: soft – slick tire & Rear: soft – slick tire
Changed to Front: medium – wet tire & Rear: medium – wet tire on Lap 6
Went to the grid set up for wet track conditions with rain beginning to fall but pitted on the sighting lap for his ‘dry’ bike. After a short red flag delay – caused by so many bikes returning to the pits for a change of bike - Raul joined the grid on slick tires, with the mandatory double long-lap penalty to serve for changing bike in the start procedure window.
When the lights went out and the Grand Prix was go, the track was largely dry and Raul gained on Lap 1, crossing the line in 9thplace. Up to 8th by Lap 2 he gained another place on Lap 4. Both double long lap penalties were served in quick succession on Laps 4 and 5, just as the rain returned and forced Raul to Pit and swap back to his ‘wet’ bike.
Briefly down to P12 on Lap 7, he gained places as the field became mixed up in the rush to get on rain tires. Up to 9th by Lap 8, he ran there for 11 laps before climbing to 8th. As riders went off ahead, Raul kept his bike rubber down and on Lap 23 hit 7th a position he occupied through to the final flag.
First Aprilia home, a confidence inspiring ride and progress with his bike set-up to score 9 valuable Championship points.
“In this kind of situation, you can’t foresee what will happen. Basically, I tried to be calm in all the decisions I made – it was difficult but anyway, we made a really good job and I’m very happy. During the weekend, we were very competitive in almost all conditions, so we can confirm that the good feeling is coming back. In tricky conditions like this you can score a lot of points but also easily make a mistake, it’s not easy. I think we all did well today and we got some good points, some confidence for me, for the team, for everybody. We made a good job and I’m really happy.”
.png)
AI OGURA
Grid position: P19 – Started on Front: soft – slick tire & Rear: soft – slick tire Changed to Front: soft – wet tire & Rear: soft – wet tire on Lap 7.
Like Raul, went to the grid formation with his RS-GP25 set-up for wet conditions and elected to pit for his dry set-up bike at the end of the sighting lap – also being handed the rulebook double long-lap penalty for the change under start procedure conditions.
From the off, Ai made rapid progress and crossed the stripe for the first time in 10th place.
Lap 4 saw him in P8 and by Lap 6 he was 6th. A further gain to P4 on the 7th time around was quickly lost when he served the first of the two long-lap detours and then immediately pitted for his other bike, running wet treaded Michelins.
Getting the measure of the wet conditions, he went for the second long-lap on Lap 9 which put him 12th for the following 11 laps.
P11 on Lap 19, Ai got to 10th with 4 to go. That was his final gain and he took the checkers 6 more World Championship points to the good.
“Today’s race was quite fun. It was the most complicated race of the season so far and I was swapping the bike according to the conditions. Actually, I was just following what other riders were doing in front of me. I think it was a nice experience - more than half of the race I could ride with the wet tires and this experience is exactly what I needed. I think today was quite ok, there were a lot of possibilities, but I just followed the others. The race was crazy, I got some more experience in MotoGP, so it’s nice.”
.png)
“We are pleased today because it was such difficult conditions, many decisions to take before the start, during the race and I think we managed well to place both riders in the top 10. Raul had a steady race and he managed the situation well. It was also very important for Ai to have nearly a full race in the wet conditions and by the end of the race, his lap times had improved a lot - very close to the top riders. We are happy overall today; we managed it well, brought good results, gained experience and no mistakes, so thank you very much to all the team for managing everything so well in these conditions. We scored points and looking forward now to the next round.”
- DAVIDE BRIVIO, TEAM PRINCIPAL
