Peter Acosta is the 2 FIM Moto2023™ World Champion! “El tiburon de Mazarrón” (the shark of Mazarrón) won his second Championship in style by reaching the podium at the PETRONAS Malaysian Grand Prix, becoming the youngest Champion in the intermediate category since Dani Pedrosa in 2004 and the longest youngest rider of all time in Moto2™, just ahead of Marc Marquez. Acosta has 14 podiums this year, including seven wins, and takes the crown with two races remaining.
Peter Acosta got his first motorcycle at the age of five but took a little time to really fall in love with it. Once he did, his rise began to gain momentum, and in 2017 he won the pre-Moto3™ title in Spain by two races. He then moved to the FIM Moto3™ Junior World Championship, now JuniorGP™, for 2018 and made a big move in that championship the following season, alongside his debut in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. It was in the Rookies Cup that he really began to create the buzz that has since followed him up the rankings. After finishing his first season as runner-up with three victories and five podiums, Peter Acosta won the first six races of the Rookies Cup in 2020 and captured the title with a significant lead.
Making its debut in the Moto3™ World Championship in 2021, then, came with even more excitement, and it proved entirely justified. For his Grand Prix debut, he took second place and began his career on the podium, just 0,042 s from victory, and the second time, Peter Acosta won. From the pit lane!
More than two years later, this victory gives goosebumps, just like the entire season, where history was made almost every weekend. Peter Acosta became the first rider to win the title in his rookie season in the 125cc/Moto3™ class since Loris Capirossi in 1990.
He moved to Moto2™ for 2022, and if anyone had any doubts about the aura surrounding the Spaniard, the time to put them to rest had come. In a new year and a new category, Peter Acosta produced the same sensation by smashing the lap record during testing at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. However, the start of the races was more difficult than he had expected and he then suffered injury problems, before winning his first Moto2™ race at Mugello and finishing the season with a second victory at Valencia. He remembers his debut in the intermediate category and expected more, but for the others it was more than enough, and that's when the 2023 season arrived.
At the start, Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) contested the first part of the season at Peter Acosta, but before the summer break, number 37 had regained the lead and was starting to build a lead. From there, he continued to widen the gap, which allowed him to win his second crown brilliantly. Seven victories, 14 podiums and even more history written, Peter Acosta is the 2 FIM Moto2023™ World Champion! Next step: MotoGP™ within GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, alongside Augusto Fernandez.
Peter Acosta in statistics
- Aged 19 years and 171 days, Acosta becomes the second youngest World Champion in the intermediate category behind MotoGP™ Legend Dani Pedrosa (19 years and 18 days) in 2004.
- Acosta is however the youngest Moto2™ World Champion ahead of Marc Marquez (19 years and 254 days) in 2012.
- He becomes the second rider to win the Moto2™ World Championship after having already won the Moto3™ title (2021), with Alex Marquez (Moto3™/2014 and Moto2™/2019).
- Additionally, Acosta becomes the second former Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup winner to claim the Moto2™ title with Johann Zarco, the first Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup winner in 2007 and two-time Moto2™ world champion (2015 and 2016).
- Aged 18 years and 4 days at the 2022 Italian GP, Acosta is the youngest winner of the intermediate category ahead of Marc Marquez (18 years and 87 days at the 2011 French GP).
- With 10 Moto2™ victories to date, Acosta is tied for fifth on the list of riders with the most victories in the category with Pol Espargaro and Sam Lowes.
- Acosta has been on the podium 14 times since the start of the season (more than any other rider) and 19 times in Moto2™. He is now tied for 11th place on the list of drivers with the most podiums in the category with Andrea Iannone. If he gets two more in the remaining two races, he will overtake 2024 teammate Augusto Fernandez (20) and tie Franco Morbidelli and Miguel Oliveira, who both have 21.
Peter Acosta : “I tried not to feel the pressure. At the end of the day, you have to understand that we were not in an easy situation, but the opportunity was there to win the championship, and I said on Thursday that if it wasn't here, it would be in Qatar or in Valencia. Ultimately, I approached the race like a normal weekend, trying to be competitive in Sunday's race, and that's how we achieved it. It is true that in the last races we drove more with the head, because I think it is very important for the team to be able to achieve the drivers' championship, and for us to be able to fight for the teams' title. I think the race was ultimately good. We saw that SpeedUp had something more in the last races and we need to improve. Regardless, we have to be happy to be on the right track and to have put another podium in our bag, with two more races in the championship where we can fight to win races, so we have to be happy with this race. »
Are you proud of this season, which was very different from 2021?
“Yes, at the end of the day, like you said, it's not like Moto3. I remember at the Sachsenring I was 83 points behind second place. It was quite crazy, and in Portimao I was quite nervous because it was a race after losing a lot of points in the last part of the championship. I was also a child, I was 16 years old when I arrived in this championship, and now I'm almost 20 years old, so it's very different. Plus, last year I made a lot of mistakes. By the fifth round, we had almost 20 falls, which is a lot. »
“In the end, this is my third year working with Aki (Ajo) and this year we decided to start from scratch, put all the mistakes in one box and say that nothing could come out of this box. It's true that we made mistakes during the season, like at Le Mans and in Australia. Not everything is easy, but, and I don't know what to say in the end, the team worked really well. It's true that last year we struggled a lot to find the right settings for the bike and also because I was too small and too light to be able to ride Moto2. We took a big step forward during the winter and pre-season, and thanks to that I think we improved overall and mentally. We know what not to do, more than what to do. We took a lot of experience from last year and played with that. »
Surpassing Marc Marquez to become the youngest Moto2™ champion, and becoming the second-youngest mid-class champion behind Dani Pedrosa: are you looking to set these records, especially when you've been called "the next Marc Marquez", or Is it just nice to see your name join theirs?
“I try not to think about it in the end. I am the new Pedro Acosta, not the new Marc Marquez. At the end of the day, it's a different era, they're different bikes, so you can't compare. It's true that it's very nice to be among these names, but now is not the time to think about it. Now I just have to have fun on the bike and in the paddock, and have fun with the guys who work here. Now is not the time to think about what I have done and what I want to do. »
