Few could have guessed at that stage that it would remain Japan’s last grand prix win to this day, as the country’s success on the rider front dropped off a cliff. Tamada was third in Japan in 2005, Nakano second at Assen in 2006 – and that was it until the outlier that was Valencia 2012.
Only then did the real drought begin, however. This is partly because the Japanese factories have leaned towards European riders in more recent times. All the more ironic, then, that it was a man on a European bike who finally began knocking on the door of the podium.
Ogura came close to ending the barren patch in the USA in March, but a mechanical problem robbed him of a likely third place. At Le Mans, however, the waiting was finally over after he put on one of his customary late-race charges to take third.
That it took an Italian machine to get a Japanese rider back into the top three is still notable – and it’s a situation Yamaha hopes to address by having signed Ogura for next season. But those with long memories will know that it’s not the first time a Japanese rider has made the podium on an Aprilia.
Rewind to 1999, and the record books will show two third places for Tetsuya Harada, star rider in the punchy Aprilia project of the time. But those results, in France and Great Britain, are the only other examples of a Japanese rider taking a podium on a non-Japanese bike.
Following Ogura’s third place at Le Mans, Japan now has 94 podiums in total. That puts it seventh on the all-time list, which is led by Italy with 795. Next up are Spain, the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia and France.
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