Ai Ogura’s victory in the 2024 Moto2 World Championship marke🌜d the first world title for Japan since Hiroshi Aoyama won the final 250cc World Champio🍒nship in 2009.

Only four Japanese riders have won races i🅠n Moto2 since it was introduced in 2010, with Shoya Tomizawa, Takaaki Nakagami, and Tetsuta Nagashima all having won GPs in the intermediate class before Ogura stepped up to Moto2 in 2021.

For Takaaki Nakagami,𓆉 Ogura’s cha🅘mpionship success was a deserved one.

“I feel super-happy, of course, for him,” Nakaga♐mi said following the MotoGP race in Thailand, “because I think he deserved to win t👍he championship.

“He only was super-consistent during the season; also today, at the very beginning of the race, he was a little bit dropping🌠 positions, but he was very clever and gaining positions at the end of the race up to P2.

“I was super-happy, big congratulations to him, and it’s nice that before the Mo💮toGP race I saw him winning the chꦡampionship.

“I think he is super-happy but all the Japanese fans and myself as well [are] happy ﷺfor him.🎐”

Ogura’s 2025 teammate, Raul Fernandez, echoed the sentiments of Nakagami, the Spanish rider having spent much of his time in the pre-Grand Prix claಌsses riding alongside Ogura.

“I’m really happy for him,” said Fernandez. “I think he deserved the chaꦍmpionship, he did a fantastic year.

“I’m really happy because, at the end, I was since th♛e [Red Bull] Rookies Cup with him, I was in Moto3 and Moto2 also, and next year he will be my teammate.

“And, really happy because at the end he has now the conf♋idence to think that he is prepared to be in MotoGP.

“I think that he can come with a fresh mind in Aprilia;🥀 also, I think will help the project, so I’m happy for him and for how he managed today the race — he did a really good race, like a champion’s race, so I’m really happy to have [Ai] Ogura as my teammate.”