The “old-school” Moto3 rookie taking MotoGP by storm

With two wins and a second place from his first three races in Moto3, Pedro Acosta has marked himself out as a MotoGP star of the future. And although the man charged with his development is eager to downplay it, there are plenty of similarities with a certain six-time MotoGP world champion...

Updated May 13, 2021, 1:35 PM

If you wanted to give Pedro Acosta a ring following his sensational maiden Moto3 race win in the Doha Grand Prix, you’d have struggled to get through. In an unusual move for a 16-year-old in the modern day, Acosta elected to keep the hype off his shoulders by changing the sim card in his mobile phone as well as putting his focus elsewhere instead of social media.

“He’s a really funny boy with a good attitude, and how I see it, how he was handling it after his first win the week after, he was not really looking at Instagram or news,” Aki Ajo, team boss of Ajo Motorsport, tells Autosport. “And even changed his sim card in his phone. So, I think he was quite well prepared for that [increase in attention].”

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Author Lewis Duncan

Lewis Duncan is Autosport's International Editor and primary motorcycle racing reporter. A motorsport fan from a young age, Lewis became interested in journalism when he won the star letter competition in the February 2012 issue of F1 Racing Magazine. A member of the Autosport Academy from 2017, Lewis became a freelance motorcycle racing correspondent for Autosport in 2019 before becoming a full-time staffer in 2020 as International Editor.

While MotoGP coverage is his priority, Lewis also covers World Superbikes and road racing across the Motorsport Network, and hosts the Tank Slappers Podcast. He has also occasionally commentated on 750 Motor Club meetings. Away from motorsport, Lewis is a keen record collector with a collection unashamedly largely featuring Iron Maiden and Rush and an avid guitar player.