Moto3: Pedro Acosta can beat Loris Capirossi at Misano

It’s not all about Fabio Quartararo, as the Emilia Romagna GP also brings a first championship match point for Pedro Acosta, the rookie who is setting the world alight during his first Moto3 season.

Acosta champion at Misano if…

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The chances of seeing Pedro crowned champion already at Misano are more remote than the Frenchman’s though. With a 30-point lead over Dennis Foggia, the KTM-Ajo rider would have to gain at least another 21 points to celebrate the title in Italy. So basically Acosta needs to win, with Foggia finishing in twelfth place or lower.

A very small glimmer that would also allow Pedrito to achieve another ‘first’. If he were to become champion at Misano, the Spaniard would become the youngest ever motorcycle world champion. The record is currently held by Loris Capirossi who, at 17 years and 165 days, became 125 world champion back in 1990.

Loris and Pedro, phenomenal teens

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It’s easy to draw parallels between the two. Capirossi, also a rookie back in 1990, appeared on the world scene as something of a child prodigy. After competing in the Italiano Sport Production and 125 GP classes, Capirex placed fourth in the 1989 European Championship, before moving up to the world championship aboard the Team Pileri Honda RS 125. With Fausto Gresini as a team-mate, #65 was also up against the likes of Stefan Prein, Hans Spaan, Doriano Romboni and Jorge Martinez. A season that reached a climax at Phillip Island, when the Italian won the race to secure the first of three career world titles.

A rapid rise that can be compared to that of Acosta - Spanish PreMoto3 champion in 2017, then the CEV Moto3 championship from 2018 to 2020 as well as the Red Bull Rookies Cup as of 2019. After winning the 2020 Rookies Cup, he moved up to the world championship this season with absolutely no fear of battling Fenati, Foggia or Masia, to name but a few.

Will Acosta be able to rewrite history, as Capirossi did 31 years ago? All will become clear at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Translated by Heather Watson

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