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The Trackhouse team, the satellite Aprilia team that from Silverstone will field two official Aprilias, after making official the renewal with Raul Fernandez with a two-year contract, is now called upon to decide who to put alongside the Spaniard. The current box mate is Miguel Oliveira, who at the moment has not yet been confirmed and paddock rumors would have him on the future Yamaha of the Pramac team.
In the merry-go-round of the rider market, currently left stranded are the two exiles from the GasGas KTM team, Augusto Fernandez and Jack Miller, 'replaced' by two prominent names: Bastianini and Vinales. If, however, for the younger Augusto there do not seem to be many teams interested and a possible landing in Superbike is on the horizon, the same cannot be said of Jack Miller, rich with a treasure trove of experience in Ducati and KTM that could benefit the house of Noale.
For months, however, the name that most of all had emerged among the favorites was that of Joe Roberts, after all, having an American rider on a hand whose livery proudly proposes the team's stars and stripes could be an optimal solution in terms of image and market prospects.
In the last few hours, however, we learn from our Spanish colleagues at Motorsport.com that this hypothesis may have foundered, despite encouraging signs such as Biaggi's presence in Roberts' company at Laguna Seca. The name that could therefore take expectations by surprise and thus debut in MotoGP from next year in the Trackhouse team would be that of Ai Ogura.
Ogura, a 23-year-old Japanese rider strongly desired in recent years by Honda , which saw in him a young and alternative proposal to the current Nakagami, an option that the rider had rejected given the criticality of the current RC213V of the house of the golden wing. In 2022 he had fought for the title in Moto2 precisely against Augusto Fernandez, finishing the season 2nd. Two years later, the MT Helmets MSI team rider is now battling with teammate Garcia in the Moto2 title race. At the halfway mark of the season, the two are separated by just seven points, and the Japanese can already boast two wins and four total podiums to his name.
Nothing is finalized yet, but the sinking of theJoe Roberts option, which would have brought a star rider back to MotoGP, absent since 2016 with Hayden, would be another unexpected blow in an increasingly unpredictable rider market.
Automatic Translation by DeepL
