Ai Ogura makes history at Assen in Trackhouse's dream weekend
- Silvia Cojocaru
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
A magical weekend for Trackhouse with their two riders splitting the victories in the Netherlands. Raúl Fernández dominated in the sprint, while Ai Ogura became the first Japanesse rider to win a Grand Prix in nearly 22 years.
After Marco Bezzecchi crashed out of the Grand Prix and failed to score points on a Sunday again, his teammate Jorge Martín was there to pick up the pieces with a podium. This marks the first change in championship leader for this season.
Sprint
Right off the line, Ai Ogura managed a great start from second straight to the lead. Fabio Di Giannantonio and Fernández quickly joined the fight for first, as Martín slowly lost positions in spite of his start from pole.
The first incident of the sprint happened on the first lap, when Joan Mir crashed at Turn 4.
The runner up in the championship finished one place off of Bezzecchi, in P5, and lost one more point in the title fight. The two Aprilias were stuck battling each other for the majority of the race.
Another fight between teammates happened between the factory Ducatis. Following his poor qualifying form, Marc Márquez recovered two positions at the start of the sprint and was stuck trading positions with his Francesco Bagnaia for the whole 13 laps.
Bagnaia reigned victorious on track, but was demoted by one position after the race due to exceeding the track limits on the last lap.
Meanwhile, at the front, the two Trackhouse riders were also battling for the win, with the more experienced Spaniard ultimately taking up gold.
The Saturday podium was conquered by all client teams, with Trackhouse claiming their first ever 1-2 finish in a sprint race. The top three was completed by VR46 rider Di Giannantonio who re-entered the title fight and disrupted Aprilia’s domination at the top.
Grand Prix
Martín managed a great start off the line to mentain his leading spot while the two Trackhouse riders followed. Bezzecchi lost a spot to Fernández and was immediately hunted by the two Ducatis.
Marc Márquez eventually overtook the championship leader who seemed to crumble under pressure as he crashed on his own on the third lap of the race. The Italian was taken to the hospital for further examination.
Martín continued to lead for the majority of the race, looking to consolidate his position as the new championship leader. However, the Trackhouse riders wouldn't let him off easy. Fernández managed to overtake the Aprilia rider on Lap 19 and Ogura followed in second place. From there, another fight between teammates took shape and Ogura became the new race leader.
While hunting the two Ducatis for fifth, Pedro Acosta had a physical issue with his right arm and was forced to retire on Lap 13. This could be linked with the numerous technical issues that the KTM encountered these past weeks finaly taking a toll on the Spaniard.
On Lap 15, Bagnaia began to slow down and also retired from the race a lap later, as his Ducati had some technical issues. His teammate also lost positions near the end of the race to finish sixth after coming into brief contact with Di Giannantonio. However, after the race Marc Márquez was demoted by one more position for exceeding the track limits.
On Lap 16 Ogura seemed to also be affected by some technical issues after he had just managed the fastest lap of the race. He slowed down his pace but recovered quickly to complete Trackhouse's best weekend in history with their first 1-2 finish in a Grand Prix.
Martín finished third and claimed enough points to become the new championship leader, seven points off of Bezzecchi.
The title fight seems closer and more exciting than ever before. Tune in to the Germany Grand Prix on 12th July 2026 from 14.00 track time (12.00 GMT) to see how the action unfolds next!
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