Ai Ogura admitted to feeling sorry for Fabio Quartararo when he blasted past the underpowered Yamaha rider in the Brazilian MotoGP Sprint.
Quartararo starred in qualifying, then passed Marc Marquez on his way to putting the new V4 into an early second place in the Saturday race.
But the Frenchman was soon being picked off on the straights, culminating in Ogura’s pass for fifth place on lap 9 of 15.
“It was easy passing. I think everybody overtook him on the straight,” Ogura said afterwards. “Now, clearly, the Aprilia is faster than the Yamaha on the straight. I felt a little bit sorry for him because it was just power.”
Quartararo set a best weekend top speed of 340.6km/h, compared with a peak of 348.3km/h by the Ducati of Marc Marquez and 345.0km/h for Ogura’s RS-GP.
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The Japanese also felt a tinge of regret after making a very different kind of pass to take fifth place from Alex Marquez on the final lap of Sunday’s grand prix.
“My move on Alex on the last lap wasn’t really clean, I already said sorry to him, but it was the last lap – you have to try. I’m happy to bring a P5 home,” Ogura said.
But Alex Marquez had no complaints: “Ogura overtook me with a really nice block pass, honestly speaking.”
After holding on for the Yamaha V4’s best yet finish of sixth in the Sprint, Quartararo faded to 16th in the grand prix.
Meanwhile, Ogura holds sixth in the world championship heading into the Trackhouse team’s home American round at COTA this weekend.
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“For sure, it’s going to be a special weekend for us,” said Ogura.
“COTA is my favourite circuit of the calendar and we are the only American team in MotoGP, so I think that’s the place to do a good ride and get some good results.
“I love the circuit but I’m not a specialist of COTA. My best finish is second – I’ve never been really, really, strong at the circuit, it’s just my favourite.”
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