At the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas, CNN got to know reigning Moto2 World Champion and new Trackhouse MotoGP recruit, Ai Ogura, a little better after his classy start to life in the premier class with the American-backed outfit.

The interview begins with Ogura admitting that his idol wasn’t Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner or Jorge Lorenzo – it was in fact his older sister, Karen.

“When I was small, I was not interested in MotoGP or other races, I mean, to watch on the TV, so I didn’t have idols like everybody, like Valentino (Rossi) as my idol, or (Casey) Stoner, or (Jorge) Lorenzo, or something like that. So, my sister was the one that I was looking up to,” said Ogura to CNN.

“Every weekend, me and my sister, and my father, my mother, used to go to the circuit and we were just a normal family… We were in the same class, and she always beat me. It’s not a good memory for me, but for her, yes,” continued the Japanese star.

Wanting to dig deeper into the Ogura story and why Trackhouse picked him to join their ranks for 2025, CNN also spoke to Team Manager, Davide Brivio, and Team Owner, Justin Marks.

“There are two lines of thought: one is, you know, do we lean so far into the American idea of our team, do we just stack it with Americans and make it that above everything else? Or is the MotoGP Trackhouse team really the international growth vector for the Trackhouse brand? Ultimately what we landed on, while we want to lean into the fact that we’re an American team and celebrate that, this truly is the function of the company that expands globally and internationally,” explained Marks, regarding the decision to choose Japan's latest World Champion. 

The conversation with Ogura continues, with the #79 admitting that, understandably, the first few days of testing were “special” and “emotional”. Now though, the mindset has switched.

“Now, it’s just – I’m one of the MotoGP riders, and I have to be better than all the other riders. So now I’m a bit more calm on the track. But the first few days were a little bit like – to beat Marc Márquez, there’s no way, but now things start to be a little bit more realistic,” comments Ogura.

Head over to CNN to read the article in full, including Marks talking about MotoGP’s huge potential for growth in the US and how NASCAR fans are watching MotoGP for the first time.