Pedro Acosta is the rider many are betting on for the future of MotoGP. After all, his résumé speaks for itself: he won the Moto3 World Championship on his debut and, two years later, made an encore in Moto2.
In his fourth season in MotoGP, he entered MotoGP with very high expectations. Did he meet them? The answer is clear: yes. His numbers say so.
In 2024, in his first year in the premier class, he achieved 5 podiums (to which we must add 4 more in the Sprints), a pole position and finished 6th in the championship.
Leaving aside the unapproachable Ducati squadron, the comparison for Pedro must be made with his brand mate Binder.
Brad finished ahead of him in the standings (in 5th place), but by just 2 points and only making the podium once in the GPs.
It is safe to say that the Spaniard gifted the South African, by crashing too much in the final part of the season and having to skip the Phillip Island GP.
It was still a very good season, although many had expected a victory. They had not, however, reckoned with Ducati, which left its opponents only crumbs (read: one win - by Aprilia with Vinales - in 20 Grands Prix).
Acosta's KTM is not a bad bike, but it does not hold up to the Desmosedici.
All in all, Pedro has no reason to complain about his first year among the motorcycle racing greats, although some have done better - and others worse - him.
The table above summarizes the debut season of some of MotoGP's most representative riders. If we start with the new world champion, Jorge Martin had only managed to do better because of that victory that Pedro missed.
After all, the Madrid native was the protagonist of a very bad crash in Portimao for which he had missed 4 Grands Prix, hence the disappointing final position: 9th with 11 points against Bagnaia's 252 (the best Ducati rider in the standings). As for the situation, it was similar to Pedro's: satellite team and official bike.
Speaking of Bagnaia, his debut in MotoGP was rather short on satisfaction. In 2019, he did not win anything and did not even get on the podium, but he had a Ducati from the year before and the Desmosedici was not at today's level.
Totally different was the MotoGP start of Quartararo, who made his debut with the Yamaha of the Petronas team in the same year.
The Frenchman climbed 7 times on the podium and had the satisfaction of finishing ahead of Valentino Rossi (Factory team rider) in the standings and just 19 points behind Maverick Vinales (the other Factory team rider). Joan Mir, on the other hand, did not shine, scoring less than half the points of Rins on the Suzuki (92 versus 2025).
The perfect debut was Marc Marquez, for whom the rule that prevented him from being on a factory team in the first year of MotoGP was changed.
He inherited Casey Stoner's bike and team and won the World Championship at the first attempt, with 16 podiums out of 18 races and 6 wins.
By way of comparison, Lorenzo and Pedrosa were unimpressive in their debuts. Only by comparison however, because Jorge won one race and stood on the podium 6 times, finishing 4th at the end of the year behind Rossi, Stoner and Pedrosa, with whom he would form the Magnificent 4 in later years.
Dani, too, made waves in 2006: with 2 wins, 8 podiums and a 5th place finish in the season that saw teammate Nicky Hayden become world champion.
Both Spaniards debuted on factory team bikes, a privilege Casey Stoner did not have.
The Australian gained experience with the LCR team's Honda and, while showing great speed, only made the podium once. He would make up for it with interest in 2007 on the Ducati.
Acosta next year will be in the official KTM team and, despite his very young age, will be its leader. He has already taken the first step; all that remains is to wait to find out how far he can go.
