Pedro Acosta was born when Valentino Rossi was on his way to winning his first MotoGP championship with Yamaha in 2004. MotoGP’s hype machine has already anointed the 19-year-old Spaniard as the next Marc Marquez. And Acosta will still be a teenager when he makes his premier-class debut – aboard a Tech3 GasGas RC16 – next March. Not even Rossi or Marquez managed that.
Wonderkids are nothing new in the MotoGP paddock, of course. The lower classes are a conveyor belt of keen teens, but Acosta has that special something, just like Rossi and Marquez. In fact, like all the greats do.
You see it in their riding, obviously. Then you see it in the way they walk and how they talk. There’s swagger, confidence, cockiness even. But not too much. There’s also real intelligence and a feeling that these young men are much wiser than their years.
What does Acosta identify as his biggest talent?
“Big balls!” he grins. “From the moment I arrived here I tried to show people that I’m not afraid of anyone. I remember Moto3 races when I started 28th and by lap five I was first. So, big balls, why not?
