MotoGP | Because Acosta's future looks even brighter than his debut

After a pre-season in which the spotlight was shared by Marc Marquez and his arrival at Gresini Racing, the debut of the reigning Moto2 world champion in the premier class even tipped the media balance in his favour. The deserving eighth place in the Sprint on Saturday was eclipsed the day after the start of the long race, in which Acosta put on a show with a vigorous comeback that took him from tenth place on the first lap to fourth place on the 12th, after overtook Marquez with a tremendous “dive” under braking at the first corner.

If the #93 and #31 have been compared since the latter made his debut in the MotoGP just three years ago, the parallels are even more marked after the Spaniard's debut in MotoGP, in which he demonstrated a similar panache to what moved Marquez in that historic 2013.

“They are very similar. Marc arrived without complexes and with the desire to face the world, and that's what we saw today in Pedro”, a key member of the Honda team admitted to Motorsport.com on Sunday in that first experience of the rider from Cervera. There is probably no better proof of this brazenness and the fastest lap of the race that the young man from GasGas Tech3, just 19 years old, left to history.

The enormous demand for what was his first long race meant that Acosta was unable to finish with a bang. Speaking to journalists afterwards, the driver stressed that it was his lack of experience that caused his tires to degrade more than they should, making it impossible for him to maintain the pace he had set in the first half of the race.

However, equally, if not more, important was the sudden stiffness of his forearms, which appeared in the last six laps and which, irremediably, led him to lap between a second and a second and a half slower per lap. Little by little he was swallowed up by a group with much more experience than him, until he finished in ninth place, 11 and a half seconds behind Bagnaia, while trying to “free” his arms with flashy gestures.

“It was probably influenced by the position of the rear lowering lever, which was too far away and forced me to make a slightly strange movement. The team has changed it compared to the pre-season test. For Portimao, in two weeks, I hope they adapt it more to my needs”, said the two-time world champion in the training categories, who had fun like he hadn't had in a long time.

“I haven't felt so comfortable and confident in overtaking since I was in Moto3. And I also did it in Moto2, but not with so much confidence that the bike would stop,” agreed Acosta, at Lusail, where 11 years earlier the world had seen Marquez debut in the premier class, climbing on the podium behind Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

The situation then has nothing to do with the situation today. Especially if we take into account that back then the Japanese brands reigned supreme and today they are fighting in the catacombs of the times and in the points zone. At that 2013 event, the first non-Japanese prototype was Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati, which finished seventh, over 24 seconds behind the winner.

Marquez, third, was six seconds behind Lorenzo, after a close duel with Rossi that produced spectacular maneuvers like those Acosta pulled off on Sunday. “This is how you learn. Pedro's attitude in his first MotoGP Grand Prix was brazen, like a champion. Soon he will fight for the podium and will be scary in some races”, complimented Marquez.

If we ignore what we see on the track, the similarities between the multiple champion and the man destined to inherit his hegemonic role in the medium term are even more numerous. Marquez was called to captain the Honda project in the same way that KTM placed its hopes for the future in Acosta, who not surprisingly inherited the human group left by Pol Espargaro, whose members almost all come directly from the factory staff. Austrian house.

In any case, the stay of the young man from Mazarrón in Herve Poncharal's team has an expiry date. According to Motorsport.com, in fact, if KTM wants to keep him beyond this season, they will have to get him on the RC16 currently owned by Jack Miller, who is not under contract for next year, in 2025.

This is exactly what the group led by Stefan Pierer did to secure Acosta in 2024, and which led to the bizarre game of chair, with three riders (Espargaro, Augusto Fernández and Acosta) for just two bikes. In this type of agreement, notification of the promotion by the company must occur before the summer break, when the majority of the starting grid is expected to be completed.

Pedro Acosta's stay in the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 team will be short-lived: next year he will be in the official KTM team.

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images