This weekend in Malaysia, Pedro Acosta has his first match point to win the 2023 Moto2 World Championship – if he succeeds, he will become the youngest world champion in the class
While the World Championship battle in the MotoGP and Moto3 classes is still wide open and cannot be decided this weekend, the situation in the Moto2 class means that the 2023 World Champion could be decided this weekend
Pedro Acosta has his first match point to win the Moto2 World Championship at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. The 19-year-old Spaniard in Aki Ajo’s team will start the race with a 63-point lead over his only remaining rival. This only rival is Tony Arbolino, who rides for Marc VDS.
As there are only two more race weekends left this season after the Malaysia weekend (Lusail in Qatar and Valencia in Spain), Acosta’s 63-point cushion leaves him in the following position.
Acosta will become the 2023 Moto2 World Champion in Sepang if:
– he finishes in P1, P2, P3 or P4
– he finishes P5, P6, P7, P8 or P9 and Arbolino does not win at the same time
– he finishes in P10, P11, P12 or P13 and Arbolino does not finish in P1 or P2 at the same time
– Arbolino does not finish on the podium
In the event that Acosta does not finish in the points in Sepang and Arbolino finishes third, the maximum that can happen is a points tie. For this to happen, Arbolino would have to win the last two races of the season and Acosta would also have to remain without points in each of them. Even in this case, however, the number of Acosta’s wins this season (seven) can no longer be surpassed by Arbolino. The Italian currently has two wins this season.
If Pedro Acosta secures the world title on Sunday in Sepang, he will become the youngest world champion in the history of the Moto2 World Championship. This class was introduced in 2010 as the successor to the 250cc class
On Sunday, Acosta will be 19 years and 171 days old. That would make him the youngest Moto2 World Champion. If you include the history of the 250cc class (1949 to 2009), he would be the second youngest world champion. The youngest 250cc World Champion of all time was Dani Pedrosa. He won the world title in the 2004 season at the age of 19 years and 18 days.
As far as Pedro Acosta is concerned, he already has a contract in the premier class MotoGP for 2024. He will be the new teammate of Augusto Fernandez, the 2022 Moto2 World Champion, in the Tech3 GasGas team.
Fernandez is the only rookie in the 2023 MotoGP season. Acosta will be the only rookie in the 2024 MotoGP season, unless there is a big surprise in the allocation of the only open seat (successor to Marc Marquez in the Honda works team)
