MotoGP Rider Awarded Rookie Of The Year As He Secures First Pole Position

Saajan Jogia | Oct 5, 2024

Apr 14, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Pedro Acosta (31) of Spain and Red Bull Tech3 GASGAS before the MotoGP Grand Prix of The Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Pedro Acosta clinched the 2024 MotoGP Rookie of the Year title during the Japanese Grand Prix, solidifying his impressive debut season in the premier class. The season marked him as the sole rookie rider in MotoGP and thus, winning this title was inevitable.

Throughout his career, Acosta has already earned Rookie of the Year honors twice — first in Moto3 in 2021, when he also claimed the championship title, and then again in Moto2, where his fifth-place finish in 2022 secured him the title.

It is now official! ✅ @37_pedroacosta is the 2024 #MotoGP Rookie of the Year 🙌 🦈#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/Elz2YnvkXw

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 5, 2024

For the second consecutive year, Tech3 has been the only team to field a rookie rider in MotoGP. Notable past recipients of the Rookie of the Year title include Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac/Ducati), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), and Marc Marquez, the only rider to have won the MotoGP World Championship in his debut season.

The 20-year-old rider qualified in pole position for the first time today in Motegi but crashed due to a "silly mistake" in the sprint race. He told the media:

“It was a stupid mistake on my part.

“I was a little bit off line…I came in a little more open and with a little more angle. Just a stupid mistake.

“This one hurts, but wrapped up in all the pain there are also positives. You have to see those positives as well as the negatives.

“I don't make excuses; I look for solutions. So, we crashed but we were competitive today. We have to take the positive that I was fast today. We need to be happy that we have been fighting with these top four or five riders over the last few races, and that we know how we can improve.”

He added:

“I was just flowing, not trying to do anything different. I was only trying to push in the areas where I was feeling comfortable: Turn 1, Turn 2 and Turn 4.

“But even before the race and before the crash, I was sliding in Turn 5. I was losing time there, but I wasn’t out of control.”

Acosta joked that every time he has qualified on pole in the past, he crashed out. He said:

“I’ve said before that I can win. But then I’ve crashed out, like happened at Le Mans and like happened at Barcelona. But I never crashed out of the lead until now.

“Every time I qualify on pole, I crash out."

Bagnaia, who witnessed Acosta crash, admitted he was doing a "very good job." He said:

“I think the front pressure was a bit too high.

“Maybe because we started with a ‘safe’ pressure due to the [drizzly] conditions. So I struggled a bit when I was behind Pedro.

“As soon as I rolled off a bit to let the front tyre cool, he crashed. I don’t know what order we would have finished in, but I think he was doing a very good job.”