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After bringing Augusto Fernandez to his MotoGP debut in 2023, and Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez the year before, Hervé Poncharal and the GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 team are ready to welcome another important rider into their ranks: the two-time World Champion, Pedro Acosta. The reigning Moto2 champion is one of the most eagerly awaited riders on the starting grid of the Premier Class in 2024, where he’ll be the only rookie in the category. There are many expectations for Acosta in his debut season. Despite his young age, he’s already impressed the owner of the French team with his talent.
“Without disrespecting the others who are all great riders, and who have proved it, it’s clear that Pedro Acosta is a very special rider, like Marc Marquez, Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Jorge Martin, etcetra. I remember seeing him in the Rookies Cup and, when I saw him take off his helmet, I saw a chick come out of an egg. We laughed because he has a really funny, nice face and, since then, the entire paddock has followed him, and he’s had a lightning-fast ascent. He won the Rookies Cup, he was World Champion in his debut year in the Moto3, he was a rookie in the Moto2 and, in the year that followed, he was World Champion in the category. So, in three years, he’s won two World Championships, in four years, four titles, and now he’s nineteen years old and in the MotoGP,” Poncharal said in an interview with Paddock-GP during the official test day in Valencia in November. The first time the Tiburón de Mazarrón rode his KTM RC16, which ended with an encouraging 18th place. Only four tenths from the 14th place occupied by his teammate, Augusto Fernandez, and 1”2’ from the top of the classification.
Acosta, from shark... to sea sponge
“Marc Marquez’s records in precocity are being broken. We have a prodigy on the way, and we’re really happy! Also, his father is a fisherman, so they’re very modest people, very simple, and being simple and humble is a quality for me. I like him a lot, and he has kept this modest side, with his feet on the ground. And, even though he’s nineteen years old, and life has smiled on him so far, he’s not that pompous guy who comes with crazy cars or lavish girlfriends,” the manager continued. “I’m very proud and happy to have him on our team, and it’s up to us to make sure we create a cocoon around him because, at nineteen – okay that he’s a two-time World Champion – but he’s still a teenager. He’s still a little bit of a child. I love young people. They’re our heroes, our gladiators. And, having someone like Pedro, I want to give him everything he’s entitled to expect in terms of growth. I want to make him happy and, above all, I want to make my team happy. I want to recreate a group and give our riders what they need to be able to do well. Then it’s their turn to perform.”
With the humility that distinguishes him, Pedrito has repeatedly stated that he wants to enter the MotoGP by approaching the challenge with little steps. aware of the risks involved in having expectations about his results and the multitude of things he’ll have to learn in this year of apprenticeship in the Premier Class. An attitude the Tech3 team already observed in Valencia. To the point that Hervé thought of giving Acosta the nice nickname "SpongeBob", after a conversation he had with his crew chief, Paul Trevathan.
“Why SpongeBob? Because of his crew chief’s first words during the midday break of his first day on the MotoGP bike,” Poncharal explained. “I said to him, ‘What do you want to tell me?’ He replied that he’s a sponge that absorbs everything we say to him, and we see that he immediately puts into practice on the track what he’s absorbed. Frankly, we don’t want to get caught up in the excitement, because every collaboration is always good when it starts, but then there can be pitfalls, right? When you get married, it’s for life, but sometimes you get divorced or separated before you die ... We’ll see how the situation evolves. A season is hard. There are moments of tension, pressure, and moments when you feel bad. So it’s up to us to create a group around him. But, from what I can see, I have the feeling that he’s a special person. A good guy, intelligent, with his feet firmly planted on the ground, who wants to get ahead, and who has the right approach to succeed.”
