MotoGP is Ageless

Marc Marquez is back. Back to his very best.

Stuck on an under-performing Honda for the past couple of seasons, the eight-time World Champion joined Gresini Ducati this season. It did not take him long to secure his first podium, and he soon mastered his Ducati to be among the front runners in all four races so far. If not for a sudden gust of wind, he would have won the Sprint race last weekend in Jerez, the circuit where he badly broke his right arm in 2020. Undaunted, he put a show in the Grand Prix proper and literally traded tyre marks with reigning World Champion Francesco Bagnaia throughout the race. In the end, he came home a close second to Bagnaia, and now sits sixth in the World Championship. And it is now a matter of when, not if, the 31-year-old will win a race this season, something that was unfathomable in the past couple of seasons.

Meanwhile, still in MotoGP, rookie Pedro Acosta has been sensational, with three podiums out of the possible eight so far. In Jerez he had a very slow start and could only come up a lowly tenth, but that was just an aberration as he is now the highest-ranking KTM rider in the Championship, ranked even higher than the factory duo of Brad Binder and Jack Miller, and has 59 points more than his teammate Augusto Fernandez. Acosta has been a revelation since Moto3 just three years ago, when he won his first race in Doha while starting from the pit lane. Like Marquez, many expect him to win a race soon. Not turning 20 until later this month, he still has a shot of beating Marquez’s record as the youngest winner in the premier class.