MotoGP 2024: 'Everything a great racer needs' - Neil Hodgson on why Pedro Acosta has shades of Marc Marquez

Ahead of the new MotoGP season, TNT Sports expert Neil Hodgson is extremely excited to watch rising star Pedro Acosta, saying the Spaniard has all the tools “a great motorcycle racer needs”.

Acosta, 19, is one of the biggest talking points of the new season, with fans extremely excited to see what the former Moto2 world champion can achieve in his first full season at MotoGP level.

He has drawn comparisons to legendary rider Marc Marquez, who has himself even fuelled the hype train, recently saying that he thinks “Pedro will be one of the guys this season,” and that “he has everything to be a big name in MotoGP.”

Speaking to TNT Sports from Qatar ahead of the first race Hodgson concurred, saying that he can see a lot of Marquez in Acosta.

When asked if he believes in the hype around Acosta, Hodgson said: “I do yes, I'm a massive fan.

"I mean, just think about this - he's only 19 years old, but at this point in his career he is the most successful rider that there has ever been, because he won his first ever World Championship in his first season at 16.

“Then the next year he went straight into Moto2 and broke his femur, but still won races and finished fifth in the world, then he won the World Championship last year. So in the three years of Grand Prix racing that he’s done, he's won two World Championships.

"I mean, no one's ever done that. Nobody.”

Hodgson went on to explain exactly what it is that he likes so much about Acosta and made a big prediction for this season.

“He is everything a great motorcycle racer needs to be: he is super intelligent, is ridiculously competent and is a workaholic," he said.

"Technically, there's no one better when I watch him, the way he moves his body and his race craft is second to none.

“He’s got this sixth sense of where he is on the track, who is behind him, like he's got eyes in the back of his head. I mean, genuinely, he's got everything. He has big crashes and you think that'll slow him down - and he goes faster the next time.

“Honestly, I said this before about Marquez, if I was going to build a robot, Marc was the perfect motorcycle racer. Well, Pedro's similar. And I genuinely think he'll be on the podium at some point this year.

“Actually I’ll say it, I think he can win a race.

“It's funny because Sylvain Guintoli, who we work with for TNT Sports, has been texting me over the winter.

“I said this last year that Acosta could win a race and he's been texting me all winter because he was laughing at me going, ‘Oh no, you're miles off on that.’ And now he's been texting me saying ‘actually, you might be right.’

“I think big picture you’re looking at maybe two or three sprint podiums, another two or three general podiums and maybe top eight, top 10 in the standings. That would be a great first season.”

Of course the other major MotoGP storyline this season is Marquez himself, having left Honda and moved over to Ducati Gresini.

Hodgson admitted that he thinks that Marquez is still clearly trying to figure out where he is on the bike, given how much the Spaniard has been talking about the differences between the Ducati and the Honda.

"Well, he's trying to take a lot of pressure off himself by saying the bike is polar opposite to the bike that he has been riding in the past," he said.

“I spoke to his crew chief Frankie Carchedi, who I've worked with in the past, and he’s saying obviously Marc’s fast but it is taking some figuring out how to get the most out of the motorcycle for him.

“So the limited amount of testing they've done so far, most of the time when you’re riding you end up riding around on your own, or you get behind someone for half a lap. But in a race... That's where you see the secrets and that's where we learn the most.”

As a former rider, Hodgson explained in detail exactly what he is looking for when he is watching Marquez that will tell him when the six-time world champion is starting to get more comfortable.

He also talked about what makes Marquez special as a rider and predicted more dominance if he can figure things out on the Ducati.

“Marc’s always super aggressive, the way he rides a bike, he likes a bike to move around a lot and when a bike moves around a lot, it actually gives a rider information and feel and understanding where the limit is," he said.

“The secret to going fast on a motorcycle is having the ability to be able to ride on the limits. But not over it. Because if you go over the limit, that's a crash. Marc has made a career out of that, he lives on that limit line. The only rider that really was right out there was, in my generation, Valentino Rossi.

“So if I see Marc with a bike moving around a lot, if I see him losing the front and saving it on his knee, so basically crashing, then somehow pulling it back. If we see that over the weekend before the race, then I think he’ll be a real threat to the win, because that's the key and that’s been Marc’s superpower that he can ride just over the limit. Normal people can't, great riders can't because over the limit is called over the limit for a reason - but Marc would ride over the limit.

“If he figures out how to do that on the Ducati then nobody will touch him, he will obliterate the field. Because when he was able to do it on the Honda, the Honda wasn't the best motorcycle. Now he's on the best motorcycle. But he has not figured that out yet, with what I've seen in testing and keep in mind he has not had a lot of time on the motorcycle.

“If he finishes top five in the sprint [in Qatar], and in the main race, that would be a really solid weekend for him. And again to mention his engineer Frankie Carchedi. Very experienced, and he's really good at sort of working out what a rider needs. So like I said after this weekend, they'll have gathered so much information on what Marc needs and then they'll start to build some real foundations there.”

Finally on the title battle, Hodgson stressed that he believes the field is so wide open, but said that until the season started any conversation has to begin with defending champion Pecco Bagnaia.

“You have to start with Pecco as your favourite. We'll know more after this weekend. Because in testing it's sometimes difficult to really work out what teams are trying, some teams are focused more on doing a lap time to get the confidence of their rider up whereas other teams are confident anyway and they're working on development," he said.

“So I see it as a level playing field going into this weekend."

When pressed on Bagnaia and what has been so impressive about him, Hodgson had no hesitation about pointing to the Italian’s mentality.

“Both championships he has won have gone down to the last round and he has had a lot of pressure on him," he said.

“And he’s a rider that is incredibly fast, he has made mistakes, but when the absolute maximum pressure is on he has delivered.

“If you meet him in person, he’s such a relaxed, calm individual and his personality off the bike sort of works so well on the bike.

“What I mean is that in maximum stress situations when a rider might make a mistake, he is super cool and just such an impressive individually. It's like talking to a 50-year-old when you chat to Pecco, he’s so mature.”

Of course at the other end of last year’s title fight was Jorge Martin and Hodgson believes there will be another level of fire fuelling the Spaniard this season.

“He's such a fighter, Jorge Martin is almost the polar opposite to Pecco. You've got this super cool Italian champion in Pecco Bagnaia and then you've got the scrapper that is Jorge Martin," he added.

“He’s come from nothing, he’s a warrior. He will risk more he will do whatever it takes. So I'm a massive fan of both Jorge and Pecco. And it's funny to go about their business completely opposites really polar opposites but they are great to watch on track.

“So Jorge Martin will be so hungry this year, he was last year but I expect to see him come out and go big at the start. What I like about Jorge Martin is right now he will be thinking, 'I'm going to absolutely destroy everyone this week'. I love that about him.”

You can watch the MotoGP season live on TNT Sports and discovery+

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