When talking about LCR Honda, especially the Idemitsu box side, there is un-official information that there is a clause with the main sponsor (Idemitsu) that this seat is specifically for Asian racers. And looking at Takaaki Nakagami’s performance in the first 7 series of the 2025 season, there is the potential for him to be replaced by another Asian racer who seems ready to be pushed by HRC to take this seat. . Ai Ogura
After racing in the previous years for Team Honda Asia, which is a Junior Moto2 team owned by HRC and Honda Motor in general, Ogura is currently being ‘schooled’ by HRC on an MT helmet which uses a Boscoscuro chassis. Some of the signs that you can see empirically about this are when Ogura is still using the Arai Helmet in a team that uses another helmet name (MT Helmet) and the second is the presence of an HRC Badge on the left chest after the Leather Werpak that Ogura wears.
Having the potential to become Moto2 World Champion at the end of 2022, Ogura crashed at Sepang which eliminated him from this title and made Augusto Fernandez win the title. 2023 Ogura’s performance was mediocre alongside Somkiat Chantra on the Honda Asia team and made many write off the racer who is now 23 years old for the potential to move up to MotoGP.
However, the change in the newly formed MSi team, which acted as the successor team to the legendary Sito Pons structure, brought out new strengths. With the start of the 2024 season, Ogura looks to be in the top spot. At Le Mans he was part of Boscoscuro’s great victory by finishing second.
He celebrated his Moto2 masterpiece in just two weeks as a confident winner of the Catalunya GP. This not only moved Ogura into third in the World Championship by a considerable distance from the top, but also put him back on the map as a hopeful MotoGP candidate. At least Ogura currently has Fermin Aldeguer, who already has a contract with Ducati, in his control and this is what seems to be opening the eyes and hearts of HRC officials to think about this next Japanese talent.
However, Honda / HRC really have to think about this very carefully. It’s nothing, Honda’s own performance condition is still not settled and putting a rookie in a condition that is still unclear could of course turn around and cause difficulties and potentially destroy the rookie’s career.
