Moto2/Moto3: Can the sensational rookies continue their form in Mugello?
Red Bull KTM Ajo boys Raul Fernandez and Pedro Acosta have left many people with their jaws on the floor.
Moto2 and Moto3 have been nothing short of incredible so far in 2021 with two rides impressing more than many namely Raul Fernandez and Pedro Acosta who have come out of the woodwork and achieved things nobody could’ve expected them to achieve.
In Moto2 we have seen the incredibly tall Raul Fernandez step up from Moto3 and take 3 podiums including two race wins with a worst result of P5, he goes into Mugello only 1 point off title leader and teammate Remy Gardner, over in Moto3 Pedro Acosta has started his World Championship career with the best set of results in history, no rider since the sports official creation in 1949 has started their career as a rookie in a manner as strongly as the young then 16-year-old took three victories and a second place in his first four races including winning from pit lane in race 2 at Qatar which is an extraordinary achievement.
Acosta is now 17 years old but has achieved some crazy things at just 16 years old. This is not forgetting his dominant display in Le Mans starting from P21, overtaking a multitude of riders before crashing just to remount and overtake these riders again to finish in P8! Imagine being a rider giving it your all just to be overtaken by a rather fast and fearless 16-year-old not once but twice.
The question we must now ask is if these two can continue this run of form? It’s difficult to confirm exactly given the hugely competitive nature of their respective classes but I’d say Raul Fernandez has more of a chance of continuing this over Acosta purely on the basis that Moto3 is so unbelievably unpredictable, we cannot discount Acosta continuing this form given that he is doing things no rider has ever done before leading the championship by 54 points after just 5 rounds giving him a two-race buffer if he were to DNF.
Raul Fernandez took his first Moto2 victory in Portimao.
Moto2 is incredibly competitive but we are seeing fewer riders contest for race wins than we would in Moto3, we have the usual suspects of Sam Lowes, Remy Gardner, Raul Fernandez, Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio but there are not too many other riders who you’d say can consistently win races, yes of course Joe Roberts, Aron Canet, Augusto Fernandez, Bo Bendsneyder and some other riders can pick up the odd podium and maybe a win here and there but nowhere near as consistently as the previously mentioned riders.
This means that Raul Fernandez has a much higher chance of winning more races and staying consistently at the top, this is backed up by his natural ability to take pole position at nearly any race track you put him on. Plus the fact that he is like a rock rolling down a mountain, at first he is stood still just chilling as you do taking some good results, then you give him that little push which converts into momentum and gets him onto the podium, from there he has the ability to rack up podiums and race wins consistently no matter the circuit you put him on, we saw this last year in Moto3 when he was incredibly close to the podium race by race then as soon as he took his first podium he was all over it taking two race wins in the lightweight class.
Moto3 is a different kettle of fish, Moto3 is brutal and ruthless and completely unpredictable as Acosta has proven surprising many this year. Race by race you never know what to expect and you’re better off buying a lottery ticket than trying to predict who will win the races. For Acosta we need to be cool and calm and not put too much pressure and expectations onto the shoulders of the 17-year-old who still dons braces on his teeth, he is still very much a ‘kid’ and cannot drink on the podium ceremony. We do not want a repeat of what we have seen in the past with Fabio Quartararo who had mountains of pressure put on him at 15 years old and very nearly crashed and burned, thankfully he was given some extra chances and we have been fortunate enough to watch his career grow and blossom and he now leads the MotoGP championship.
Pedro Acosta won his second ever race from pit lane.
For Acosta he may be able to continue this form, he will have good races and he will have bad races as every rider has over a season as long as 19 races but even if he cannot take the title this year and drops down the order a little it’s important to be patient and calm with him otherwise his career could come to a very abrupt halt very quickly, we saw this also with Can Oncu who won as a 15-year-old and had huge pressure placed upon him in the same Red Bull KTM Ajo squad as Acosta before leaving the class after just one season.
It’s highly possible we will see both riders battling at the front in Mugello but it is more likely to see Raul Fernandez putting in the business than Acosta purely because Fernandez has Moto3 experience and knows the MotoGP paddock incredibly well unlike Acosta who has only started this year.
Featured images – Red Bull KTM Ajo
