ASSEN, Netherlands — Trackhouse team principal Davide Brivio said Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez deserved full credit for a historic 1-2 finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, insisting the satellite squad did not benefit from any technical advantage over the factory Aprilia team.
Ogura led Fernandez across the line in Sunday’s MotoGP race at TT Circuit Assen after the pair overhauled polesitter Jorge Martin in the closing stages, sealing Trackhouse’s first double podium in the premier class. The result capped a dominant weekend for the American outfit, with Fernandez winning Saturday’s sprint race and Ogura finishing second.
Despite Marco Bezzecchi and Martin showing stronger pace across practice and qualifying for the factory Aprilia team, Brivio said the difference in Sunday’s race came down to execution rather than machinery. “It’s important also to understand and to know that we have exactly the same material,” Brivio said. “We share all the information. Our engineers have meetings all together every day, so that’s full openness on everything. I think, probably this weekend, our riders were better. They found the way to be faster.”
Brivio highlighted Trackhouse’s improvement over the previous season, when Ogura was a rookie and Fernandez struggled for consistency. He said the Assen breakthrough reflected both riders reaching their potential and strong collaboration with Aprilia’s wider program. “We were trying to put him in a position to express the talent. Aprilia did a great job with the development,” he said.
Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola congratulated Trackhouse on the result but acknowledged the factory squad was beaten on merit across the weekend. Martin, who started from pole position, led much of the race before being passed by both Trackhouse riders on laps 17 and 18 and settling for third place, which was enough to move him into the championship lead.
“I’m really honestly happy for them. I always said that I wanted to see the day where they can beat us, and they did it, two days in a row,” Rivola said. “We share all the information, we have meetings with our engineers together with them.”
The factory team’s challenge unraveled further when Bezzecchi crashed out on lap 2 while fighting Marc Marquez for third place. He was taken to hospital for checks but later discharged without injury. Rivola said the crash was a setback but stressed Aprilia still had strong overall pace at Assen.
“Simply too fast,” he said. “I honestly think the Aprilia was strong not just in Turn 15, in all the very fast parts of the circuit.”
The Assen result tightened the intra-Aprilia championship battle while also reinforcing Trackhouse’s rise, with both squads now leading the constructors’ fight in a season that has increasingly shifted away from factory dominance.
