Exclusive: Yamaha signs Ai Ogura as teammate of Jorge Martin 2027

– The next piece of the puzzle in the transfer carousel for the 2027 MotoGP season has fallen into place. Yamaha has reached an agreement with Ai Ogura. The Japanese rider will become Jorge Martin’s teammate in the factory team next year.

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This information was obtained by Motorsport.com Spain, a sister platform of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network. Ogura will take the place of Alex Rins, whose future is open as he currently has no offers.

At 25 years old, Ogura made a strong impression in his 2025 MotoGP debut season with the Trackhouse Aprilia team. Particularly noteworthy is a fifth place in Buriram at the opening race, which would ultimately remain his best result of the season.

In 2026, Ogura again achieved fifth places, both in Thailand and Brazil, before a technical problem on his Aprilia forced him to retire in the USA. At that point, he was within reach of the podium with five laps to go.

It is noteworthy that the Japanese rider was trained in the Honda system before a rift with management in his final Moto2 season led to a separation. In that season, he eventually won the Moto2 World Championship title on a Boscoscuro from the MT Helmets team.

This means Yamaha will start the coming season with two 2024 world champions. Martin became MotoGP World Champion with Pramac Ducati back then, and Ogura secured the world title in the intermediate class with a dominant second half of the season.

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The surprising move of Ogura to Yamaha closes the door to the second M1 in the factory team for other candidates, including Luca Marini. Motorsport.com Spain learned that Yamaha has already informed Marini’s camp of the decision to sign Ogura.

Only a few days earlier, Daniel Holgado had thanked Yamaha for the interest shown, but confirmed that he had decided to move to the Gresini team, where the Spaniard will ride a Ducati next year.

Ogura’s move leaves a vacancy at Trackhouse, which the US team led by Justin Marks must now fill. Given the current market situation, the most obvious choice would be to keep Raul Fernandez in the team.

For his part, Fernandez is denied promotion to the Aprilia factory team, as an agreement has been reached with Francesco Bagnaia alongside Marco Bezzecchi. Ogura’s departure will force Trackhouse to look around the rider market, which could close within the next month.

In any case, announcements regarding both completed and pending contract signings will be held back until the Manufacturers’ Association (MSMA) and the MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (MSEG) reach an agreement. The corresponding contract is intended to define the commercial framework for the next five years. No agreement was reached at the most recent summit.

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