How MotoGP’s new star is snatching the show from lengthy title duel

It’s hard to measure exactly what aspect of any given motor race excites punters the most. But if we use the tone of voice adopted by MotoGP’s various television pundits as a yardstick, the answer in Japan was clear: Pedro Acosta.

And one suspects that the mixture of volume and reverence among the broadcasters when Acosta was doing absolutely anything on screen was indicative of what was going on in front rooms around the world. Because Acosta’s story – dare we say it? – is more compelling than the championship battle right now.

The 20-year-old MotoGP wunderkind was pure box office all weekend at Motegi. There were moments in practice when his utter ease weaving the KTM through some of the circuit’s more sweeping corners caught the eye in a way only generational talents can. At times it looked like he was welded to his RC16 as he slung it into those turns. The virtuoso riding alone was enough to justify raised voices from Simon Crafar and colleagues.

And that’s before you even consider the compelling Acosta narrative. It’s founded on the weight of expectation the Moto2 world champion carried with him even before the 2024 campaign began. Having simmered down when he and his KTM – a private one, let’s not forget – hit a comparatively fruitless mid-season, this seemed to have come back even stronger as he headed into Japan showing renewed signs of form.

The feeling that he was on the brink of his best proved entirely justified at this admittedly strong circuit for KTM. Stepping into this new, hotter spotlight with a true sense of theatre, he stormed to his first pole position on Saturday. The stage, as they say, was set.

But galloping to his first win, seeing off the reigning double world champion to boot, would be too obvious a script. Instead, the glorious unpredictability of sport kicked in.

He had us all fooled for a while in the sprint. That pass on Bagnaia was typical of the logic-defying moves he’s delivered from the very get-go in Qatar. You feel something has to give when he brakes so late and flings it in with so much speed. You always do with this kind of Acosta overtake. But then he nails that apex, so tight to the kerb that a snake would be hard pressed to wriggle through.

The trademark move to regain the lead he’d lost at the start looked like…