As Motorsport.com Italia reports, intra-brand Aprilia battles have been a recurring theme throughout the 2026 MotoGP season, and the Malaysian Grand Prix provided yet another flashpoint. This time, Trackhouse satellite rider Ai Ogura made contact with the factory machine of Marco Bezzecchi—who remains mathematically in the world title hunt, albeit with slim odds.
The incident struck at turn 1 with just three laps remaining. While both riders managed to stay upright and continue, the Japanese racer ultimately wrestled fourth position away from his Italian counterpart a couple of corners later.
To be honest, Ai was faster than me at that moment. I think he would have overtaken me anyway a couple of corners later, as he then did,
Ogura did not hesitate to hold his hands up and admit the maneuver went too far. "Entering the turn 1, I think he knew I was trying to overtake him. He braked rather late and went a bit wide," Ogura explained, breaking down the misunderstanding. "But I didn't expect him to try to take back the apex and thought he would maintain the trajectory to enter turn 2. From my side there was a misunderstanding. Regarding the contact, it's my fault. Later I will go to Marco to offer him my apologies."
Bezzecchi, for his part, shrugged off the incident with zero lingering resentment toward the fellow Noale machine. With Marc Marquez securing a crushing victory out front, the championship hopes for the rider from Romagna were already hanging by a thread following a grueling race dictated by severe tire wear.
"To be honest, Ai was faster than me at that moment. I think he would have overtaken me anyway a couple of corners later, as he then did," Bezzecchi noted. "It wasn't necessarily the contact, but simply the fact that both of us risked crashing; that could have had negative consequences. But in the end everything went well. It's a sport where sometimes it can happen, so no hard feelings."
Notably, the most damaging blow to Bezzecchi's campaign involving an Aprilia stablemate actually occurred earlier in the year, when teammate Jorge Martín forced him off the track at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
MotoGP
MotoGP
