Pedro Acosta, ‘The Shark of the Impossible’

The Spanish Pedro Acosta (KTM), the ‘Puerto de Mazarrón Shark’, that else should be recognized as the ‘Shark of the impossible’ since his parents and relatives never thought that he could one day become a world champion of motorcycling, neither because of his skills nor because of his character, naughty, complaining and somewhat crybaby , as his own mother, Mercedes Sánchez, has sometimes recognized.

But the perseverance of his father, of the same name, Pedro Acosta, a fisherman by profession on a boat, the ‘Pesquero Peretujo’, with whom the whole family has earned a living for decades but which one could almost say is owned by the banks, to be able finance the career of the young pilot from Puerto de Mazarrón, who has been proclaimed champion with just 17 years.

And is that little Pedro Acosta got the love for motorcycles of the “older” Pedro Acosta, a great fan of “rides” on the weekends in the circuit, although the “Tiburon de Mazarrón” initially did not want to know anything about motorcycles, despite having the first one when he was four years old, and it is not known very well if perseverance or for the first time another of his mentors saw him, Paco Mármol, “Pakote” for his friends, the boy ended up seeing a passion to grow on motorcycles.

And that does not mean that he did not try other sports, such as martial arts, it is not known very well if it was karate or taekwondo, but whose hobby was short-lived, until he realized that they “heated” him too much.

From the moment that Acosta realized that his was motorcycling, there was no time for anything else, motorcycles in the morning, in the afternoon and almost, almost at night, without time to get to know what he calls “the party” or what is the same, go out partying with friends for the night.

From that moment when ‘Pakote’ began to work with a very young Pedro Acosta, his parents, with very clear ideas, stepped aside to let their new mentor do, who has become one of the pillars of Acosta’s success, since for the first time I saw him roll on the Cartagena circuit in one of those tracks that his father went to whenever he could.

It was then that Pedro Acosta Sr. and Paco Mármol agreed to have the kid on trial for a couple of weeks and if it wasn’t worth “then he should dedicate himself to something else”, in his father’s words, but the reality was very different and the relationship between Pedro Acosta pilot and “Pakote” has continued until today.

If Paco Mármol has become his strategist and alma mater, his brother, Juande Mármol, is his personal coachHe, who highlights the perseverance of one of his most obedient pupils and the last to leave work until the tasks are finished.

This character shows that the blood of a champion runs through his veins, one of the youngest world champions in history and the only one who in his debut in the world championship managed to get on the podium in the first four races to reap a second and three victories, in addition to being the only one, together with the Italian Loris Capirossi, who has been world champion in the year of his debut in the competition.

Acosta started the same way he grew up, winning everything or staying very close to achieving it, as in 2019, when he was second in the ‘Red Bull Rookies Cup’, which he won a year later, and if Pedro Acosta has shown something in his first year, it is that he has the mentality of a champion, a “determining factor for him. growth of a driver “, in his own words, as well as the one he has remarked on more than one occasion and which says a lot about his mental preparation, recognizing that” children are taught to win, but they are not taught to lose, “something he has learned.