Pedro Acosta, Moto2 World Champion with a second place at the Malaysian GP.MotoGP.com
Pedro Acosta Sánchez (Puerto de Mazarrón, Murcia; 19 years old) only needed three seasons in the world championship to become a two-time world champion and make the jump to MotoGP. The new Moto2 champion, crowned with his second place at the Malaysian Grand Prix, his fourteenth podium of the year, competes in the premier class with the same phenomenon label that has in the past Marc Márquez, Valentino Rossi and other great champions accompanied. The dominance shown by this eloquent and friendly Murcian since his entry into the competition is unusual. He has already achieved 16 victories and 27 podium places in 54 races. His star could already be felt in his second World Cup race.
Starting from the pit lane at the age of 16 under the lights of Doha, Qatar, this boy fought his way from last to first, beating a small group of eight competitors. “It wasn’t because he won, it was how he won. That is his true value, then and now, how he does it!” says Jaime Alguersuari, former pilot, journalist and author of the pilot biography, in an interview with EL PAÍS. In 2021, Acosta wrote his own chapter in the record book by becoming the first and only rookie to take four consecutive podiums – a second and three wins – in his first four races in Moto3. As fate would have it, he didn’t beat Loris Capirossi to become the youngest champion in history for just one day.
“He’s a different rider, that’s clear,” said Aki Ajo, a former Finnish rider and team manager who served as a mentor to several champions at the time, including Marc Márquez. “They are similar in some ways, even though they are different,” said his team leader. “Pedro is very mathematical. It copes very well and is colder,” says Alguersuari. “There is only one Marquez and for me comparisons are hateful. Everyone is unique and there is only one Pedro,” explains Pedro Acosta Sr. to this newspaper. His son has admitted he paid close attention to the eight-time world champion’s style, which he peppered with details from his father’s idol, Casey Stoner and Kevin Schwantz, on his road to stardom.
Only an injury training on the dirt bike stopped Acosta in his first year in Moto2. He won in the second and won promotion to MotoGP the next year with the GasGas team, the satellite team of the Austrian KTM. This season, he has won seven events across 18 stops on the calendar and has been on the podium seven more times. His natural talent explains part of it, but his true talent was and is piecework. “He has a very cold mind and when it comes to work he only thinks about improving himself. He was always obsessed,” emphasizes Paco Mármol, his trainer and right-hand man until about a year ago. “As a child, his attitude and character were the most impressive. “He never gave up and always asked for another round when the other kids thought about stopping so they could drink water,” he recalls.
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The magic began with a Chinese motorcycle that his father bought him and a few rides on the Cartagena circuit. Since Acosta came from a humble background, his education was financed with money from the “Peretujo,” the family boat. The brotherhood, friends and occasional scholarships of the Cuna de Campeones in Valencia also contributed. “There were people here who didn’t even know what motorcycles were, and now there are old women who stop cooking food to watch my son race,” says Pedro, the father, proudly. In Puerto de Mazarrón, a small town with 10,000 inhabitants, they live fascinated by their champion. Of course, think of the case of Cervera with Márquez or Tavullia with Rossi.
There are quite a few parallels between Acosta and talents who went on to make history. “It’s the age, it’s the facts and their consequences. They are extraordinary,” says Alguersuari. “What did you do when you were 19?” Acosta would answer that he was simply devoting himself to training. “When he can’t be on the track, he gets on his bike, goes to the gym, does trials or dirt track training, it even seems excessive to him.” He has been very focused on his career since he was little and was always looking for ways to improve,” says his father. This season, the family asked their son to take at least Sundays off from what little the boy had given up.
Another feature that distinguishes the new champion is his attitude, in contrast to the goodism that currently prevails in the premier class. He doesn’t know any friends on the race tracks and when he watches the races on television, he misses the volcanic duels that some of his idols once experienced. “Now they’re all friends, they all have a good relationship, but people want to see fights like Pedrosa and Lorenzo, Rossi and Márquez… people want that, battles, celebrations,” he said during a recent appearance on Last on the Brakes Podcast. The talent from Murcia doesn’t mince his words and always says what he thinks. “The good thing about my son is that he is transparent, sometimes too transparent. He doesn’t think about being right, that’s how he is in his daily life. It’s your personality. There are no filters, that’s not a good thing,” the father admits.
The arrival of the Mazarrón Shark in MotoGP represents an element that is in danger of extinction in this category. “He’s an old-school guy, one of the last cowboys,” Ajo summarizes. “We don’t come here to make friends,” says the man from Murcia. Now, already crowned the youngest champion of the Moto2 era, he is counting down the days to get on his new beast at the MotoGP tests in Valencia at the end of the month, after the final race of the year on November 26th.
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