The Lord of Saturdays is also now the Lord of Sundays. Jorge Martín took victory in Sunday’s Portuguese GP race dominating from the start to the checkered flag waved by Jose Mourinho, capitalizing on mistakes from main rivals to take the MotoGP lead for the first time on Sunday . The Madrid native launches his candidacy with a good blow to the table: he has his immediate pursuer, Brad Binder, at 18 points, Pecco Bagnaia at 23, and Marc Márquez, at 33, both with zeros.
However, Martín had to share the spotlight on Sunday in Portugal with the enormous Pedro Acosta, who still steals the spotlight from the consecrated. The MotoGP rookie showed that he has made it to the top class to make it big and be one of the greats the shortest way: beating the best, without losing a hair.
Thus, the Tauró de Mazarrón devoured without complexities the two most respectable drivers, the champion Bagnaia and the multiple champion Márquez, who touched each other and ended up on the ground, and the Murcian saw his boldness, determination and daring rewarded with a podium, the first in the premier class, which came to him due to the unexpected fall of Maverick Viñales.
A podium with which he makes history, as he is the third youngest driver to climb the top of the box in the top engine. With 19 years and 304 days, Mazarrón’s is only behind Randy Mamola (1979) and Eduardo Salatino (1962). But, beyond the ephemeris, Acosta had already made history by forging a reputation with another exhibition challenging the best.
If in his debut in Qatar he already surprised (he finished 9th, but ended up 4th ahead of Márquez), in Portimão the Murcian improved and took another step in his dizzying adaptation. “I think this podium has come sooner than everyone expected. Very happy. Today I managed the race well and the start went better”, commented the beginner, who after leaving behind the two KTM cousins, Binder and Miller, went towards Márquez; the glorious past against the promising future.
The Shark doesn’t cheat, so he smells blood, he pulls away. And he launched himself at Marc in the braking at the end of the straight. His KTM stopped later and swallowed up the multiple champion. A spectacular maneuver, pure magic and bar, to conquer fifth position on lap 8/25. On top of that, Acosta set the best race lap, the youngest in history. The Acosta show still had another stellar dish in store: the promotion to the champion. On lap 21/25, the Murcian took advantage of Bagnaia’s mistake, who pulled long in a slow bend. Pedro didn’t hesitate and sneaked inside to get fourth place. And the last bite was the climb to the podium, courtesy of Viñales, who was second the entire race behind the escaped Martín. The one from Roses was on his way to the first Sunday grid with Aprilia when on the last lap, when he was braking at turn 1, he fell due to a gear failure. Goodbye to the podium, the Shark took it. “Pedro will mark a few years in MotoGP”, predicts Márquez, his victim in both races. “We’ll see how many…”.
