Last Sunday, Pedro Acosta secured ninth place in the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix, his first race in the premier class. How does this result compare to the debuts of other great riders in history?
Right away, the young Spaniard outperformed Valentino Rossi: the Italian debuted with a retirement. The same happened with Casey Stoner and Francesco Bagnaia. Jorge Martín (15th) and Fabio Quartararo (16th) also had worse starts than Acosta in the premier class.
The same cannot be said for riders like Max Biaggi (who won on his debut), Dani Pedrosa (2nd), and Marc Márquez (3rd), as well as, in the current field, Joan Mir (8th).
