The circle closed at the MotoGP US race, the top series of track motorcycling held in April. Having risen to the status of a sports legend Marc Marquez31, as well as a rising superstar Pedro Acosta19, drove for a while with each other for the win.
Aki Ajolla there could have been cause for satisfaction if the nature of the humble Finn would yield. Both top Spanish drivers have attended Ajo’s “university”.
More than ten years ago, Marquez rode in the Finnish team manager’s teams in the smaller MotoGP classes. Acosta did the same in 2021-2023.
The career development of both has followed a strikingly similar pattern. Marquez and Acosta have won the small class championship as rookies and the middle class (Moto2) with the other.
Marquez is one of the most successful track motorcyclists of all time, while Acosta is widely regarded as the great rider of the future. This season, he can break his compatriot’s record as the youngest ever race winner in the MotoGP class.
Ajo, who knows both Marquez and Acosta very well, is the right person to tell what kind of guy this great driving talent is.
“The Last Cowboy”
Acosta and Ajo got to know each other better in 2021, when the Spaniard drove his inaugural season in Moto3 in the Red Bull KTM Ajo Motorsport team. He came close to becoming the youngest ever world champion in the class at the age of 17.
Ajo considers the young Acosta to be an old league type of driver. Like formulas, there are also various junior academies in track motorcycling today. Acosta stands out from these masses, however, in his character.
– Pedro is the last cowboy. Managed by me Jack Miller and my former driver Brad Binder are also men of the old covenant in their world of thought. Pedro stands out when they are younger and there are few guys who have both talent and the desire to work hard.
– He can see very well the important things that need to be focused on. In that sense, I consider him different. Today, many young people are going in wrong directions. They don’t see the basics, because things have to be done simply. However, everything boils down to hard work and the right attitude, Ajo feels.
Useless comparison
Acosta is compared in MotoGP to Marquez, who is 11 years older. Driving itself does not like to compare drivers with each other.
The Finn himself has stables in Moto3 and Moto2, but not in MotoGP. However, there are more than ten drivers in the first series with whom Ajo has cooperated in the lower categories.
In the largest European countries, the sport is popular, especially in Italy, Spain and France.
– I don’t rate whether the driver is in Moto3, Moto2 or MotoGP. In Finland, only MotoGP is followed, but in the world, all classes are followed in the big MotoGP countries. Acosta has therefore been a big name for years, because the series system makes it possible, Ajo reminds.
Marquez has won a total of six championships in the main class of MotoGP. The first of them already in his rookie season.
However, the situation up to now was different in that Marquez was able to ride the factory bike right away. Acosta will make his MotoGP debut in the Austrian KTM’s so-called satellite team, i.e. basically with weaker equipment than the factory team.
On the other hand, in the last five years, the competition in MotoGP has intensified tremendously. In the years 2019–2022, the driver’s championship was always won by a different driver and even more so each time on a different bike.
– Time is so different. When Marquez came along, Honda was the dominant bike brand over the others. The mutual differences between bikes, brands and stables were really big. There were also big differences regarding the drivers.
– I don’t underestimate those times, and Marquez had a really great career. Honda’s factory team still helped that he immediately drove for the championship. The same is no longer possible today, Ajo thinks.
As Cupid’s arrow
Many are surprised by how mature the 19-year-old has performed. Ajo has been praised a lot for his people-oriented management style. However, he does not take credit for Acosta’s behavior.
He considers Acosta and Marquez very down-to-earth drivers.
– Both have understood a lot about life already at a young age. After talking to them when they were 17-18 years old, it felt like talking to a 35-40-year-old man.
Although Ajo and Acosta no longer work together, the two keep in close contact. Ajo acts as a psychological coach for its drivers.
For example, Ajo has discussed life with the teenage Acosta. The interaction has remained the same even after the employment relationship.
– We still do it every week. If you have challenges with your girlfriend, sometimes you can be a therapist and Cupid’s arrow. Things like that. From them, mutual appreciation and understanding between athlete and mentor rises.
The Spanish on Finnish ice
Ajo has cooperated with dozens of drivers. He feels that young drivers need a certain kind of mentoring.
– The role of team manager and manager is very much a combination of own professional skills and experience. Although young athletes are at a high level in their sport, life experience is still terribly short. That’s when athletes need the right kind of support from the right kind of people to maximize their career progression.
Ajo has spent time with Acosta and his other drivers in Finland’s winter conditions. For work, of course.
– We have driven together, for example, on an ice rink. Marquez hasn’t come in years, but he came a lot even when he wasn’t with our team anymore. However, the schedules are tight.