Sunday at the CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich was a day to remember for Japan thanks to the exceptional efforts of Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) and Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing). No one, apart from Sasaki and his team, thought that he’d have a chance of winning after dropping to as low as P24. Now, race winner Sasaki is an outside contender for the Moto3™ title. The last time he’d done so before was the Spanish GP – his other race win of the season. Idemitsu Honda Team Asia teammate Somkiat Chantra was also hungry for his second race win of the season. But Chantra is a racer, and P2 wasn’t OK when a potential victory was right in front of him. The last time we saw two Japanese race winners on the same day was Rio 2001, with Youichi Ui (125cc) and Daijiro Kato (250cc). The last time we saw a Japanese World Champion crowned was in 2009, when Hiroshi Aoyama – current Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Team Manager – won the 250cc title.

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