Cycle News

VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P111 for a teenager. Outwardly, Pedro—just 19—is bearing up nicely. The swagger of youth and over-arching talent have been backed up by some astonishing preseason test times. But how fragile is this confi- dence? Without a major setback (a euphemism for a "bad crash"), it is likely to survive. And maybe even if not. Really good riders tend to come back stronger from injury, and this one's youth would help in this respect. Acosta won the Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2020 after fin- ishing second the year before. Since then, his trail from begin- ner to MotoGP has matched or exceeded the benchmarks set by his illustrious compatriot. Marquez won the 125cc Championship in 2010, aged 17. It was his third grand prix season, having arrived aged 15. His first win came in his 33rd GP start. Acosta won the Moto3 title in 2021, also aged 17 (the mini- mum age is now two years high- er, precluding Marquez's early start). It was his first attempt, and he won his second rather than 33rd GP, one of six victories that year. Youngest-ever Moto3 Champion, he missed becoming the youngest in any class by just one day to 1990 125cc Cham- pion Loris Capirossi. On to the next class, and to be fair, Marquez might have won the Moto2 title at his first attempt but for a worrying injury problem (a concussion that triggered double vision) in the second-to- last round. He arrived there three points adrift of eventual cham- pion Stefan Bradl, but was on a roll, having won all but three of the preceding nine races. In his second Moto2 year, Marc swept to the title. Ditto for Acosta, whose first season in the intermediate class saw but three wins, while a few mistakes and injuries put him fifth overall. In the second, he was indomitable. Now, it's crunch time. In Mo- toGP is where Marquez set his most remarkable records. But with a one-year age advantage, can Acosta break them? Or vice versa? In 2013, Marquez arrived in MotoGP on fire. Aged 20, he was on the podium in Qatar, his first race, barely two-tenths behind Rossi (Jorge Lorenzo won it). Marquez won the second at COTA, starting his remarkable record at the new Texas tack. It was the first of six victories en route to beating Jorge Lorenzo to the title by just four points. He comfortably undercut former youngest champion Freddie Spencer in age and was the first rookie in class to win since Ken- ny Roberts. (Although, of course, he had prior circuit knowledge, whereas KR did not.) It was the start of title domi- nation, a reign broken only once, two years later by Lorenzo, when Honda took a develop- ment misstep. Until it all went wrong in 2020 when Marquez broke his arm badly enough to bring a major hiatus to himself. And, as it turned out, to rudder- less Honda. Plenty of observers and, indeed, rivals have suggested that Acosta will be fighting for podiums from the first race and will be a title contender from the start. It won't be long before we find out. In the meantime, we have his testing times to go on and they are mighty impressive. The first time on the Tech3 GasGas (a rebadged KTM), he was imme- diately up to speed, placed 18th, and just over a second off the top time. That was at a freezing Valencia, two days after the last race of 2023. Next time out, on the first of three days at sweltering Sepang, he was second and ninth by the finish, less than seven-tenths off leader Bagnaia. He was a more realistic 15th, 1.6 seconds off Bagnaia after two days at Qatar. At the same tests, Marquez, on his new Ducati, was sixth at Sepang, only a tenth faster than Acosta, but a close fourth at Qatar. Tests are tests, but Acosta will soon show what he can do in anger. But the new Marc Marquez? Well, for one thing, the old one hasn't gone away yet. They are double-parked in Genius Corner. And Bagnaia, Martin, Binder, Bastianini and a few others will have plenty to add to the conver- sation. CN

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