The youngest GP winners in the World Championship.

5/31/2021

 Pedro Acosta has won his second Moto3 GP at just 16 years of age, and even more amazing is the fact that he isn’t even the youngest to have achieved such a feat! We’ve put together this amazing ranking of the youngest World Championship GP winners.

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Winning a race starting from the pit lane is an extremely rare feat in the history of world racing. You need speed, tenacity and cold blood, not only to make up for the disadvantage but also to then overtake without wasting any time. 


These are skills that a driver acquires over time and with experience at high levels, which makes it all the more amazing that such a feat should be achieved at the Moto3 GP Doha, during round two of the 2021 World Championship, by Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Pedro Acosta, who was just 16 years and 314 days old when he achieved his victory. ​


 
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And yet 10 other riders in the history of the MotoGP World Championship, in which Brembo brakes have played a leading role since 1978, have also won a GP before reaching their 17th birthdays, some building on this success to go on to carve themselves a brilliant career, others taking breaks in between victories, and others still falling somewhat by the wayside along the way. 


Their first-time wins might span a quarter of a century (from 1996 to 2021), but all 11 of these under-17s reached the top of the podium using Brembo calipers, pads and master cylinders, with 9 of them even using Brembo discs. ​



 
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These are the stories of the 11 winners. 


11th Pedro Acosta – Doha 2021 Moto3 GP at 16 years and 314 days 

Last year he won the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup thanks to 6 successive victories in the first 6 races. This also enabled him to become more familiar with the front caliper and brake master cylinder made by Brembo, which he later used again in Moto3. ​



 
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10th Dani Pedrosa – 2002 Dutch 125 GP at 16 years and 273 days 

The jockey rider won with the Telefonica MoviStar team’s Honda, beating Manuel Poggiali by 2.5 seconds. He went on to win at least one race a year until 2017, winning 54 GPs and 3 world titles in the 125 and 250 categories. 


9th Hector Barbera – 2003 British 125 GP at 16 years and 253 days 

Despite pressure from Andrea Dovizioso, the Spaniard led the final 12 laps to take victory with the Aspar team's Aprilia 125. Although he continued to race in the World Championship until 2018, he ultimately had to settle for 10 wins, all with Aprilia. 


8th Sergio Garcia – 2019 Valencian Community Moto3 GP at 16 years and 240 days old 

A race full of twists and turns and a sprint finish: the Spaniard's Honda Estrella Galicia 0.0 came out on top when he overtook Andrea Migno at the last corner, ultimately beating him by 5 thousandths of a second. He came close to an encore twice last year, in his beloved Valencia.

 


7th Ivan Goi – 1996 Austrian 125 GP at 16 years and 157 days 

While the Cremona-born rider remembers this race for his victory with the Matteoni team’s Honda, the rest of the world remembers it as being Valentino Rossi’s first time on the podium (3rd place). Unfortunately, it would be Goi's only victory in the World Championship and also his last podium finish. 


6th Jorge Lorenzo – 2003 Rio 125 GP at 16 years and 139 days 

Coming up in 7th place after 8 laps, the Majorcan took the lead on lap 12 before dropping back into 4th place on the penultimate lap. But a perfect lap saw him go on to win on his Derbi, marking the beginning of a wonderful career that would include 68 GP wins (47 in MotoGP) and 5 World Championship titles. 


5th Maverick Viñales – 2011 French 125 GP at 16 years and 123 days 

It took just 4 races for him to secure his first victory, with the Aprilia Esponsorama, after a hard battle with Nicolas Terol's twin bike. So far the Catalan has won 25 GPs, including 9 in MotoGP and one Moto3 World Championship. 


4th Romano Fenati – 2012 Spanish Moto3 GP at 16 years and 105 days

Like Acosta, the Ascoli-born rider placed 2nd in his World Championship debut race and went on to win the following race with a 36-second lead on the Team Italia FTR Honda. He has won 6 times with KTM, 4 with Honda and once with Husqvarna, all in Moto3. ​

3rd Marco Melandri – 1998 Dutch 125 GP at 15 years and 324 days 

The Ravenna-born rider was the first under-16 to win a GP, which he did with the Matteoni team’s Honda, beating Kazuto Sakata by just 28 thousandths of a second. He left the World Championship with 22 victories and the 2002 250 title under his belt, before going on to secure another 22 Superbike wins. 


2nd Scott Redding – 2008 British 125 GP at 15 years and 170 days old 

The Briton's only 125 win with the Aprilia Esponsorama coincided with Marc Marquez's first podium finish. Redding went on to win three Moto2 races, as well as winning the British Superbike with Ducati, with which he finished runner-up the following year. 


1st Can Oncu – 2018 Valencian Community Moto3 GP at 15 years and 115 days 

The Turk won the Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2018, as a result of which he got to make his debut in Valencia with Red Bull KTM Ajo. He repaid them by winning his debut race for them by 4 seconds, a feat he failed to achieve again the following year. He has been competing at the Supersport World Championship since 2020. 


Missing from this list are legends such as Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez, who won their first GPs at the age of 17 and remained loyal to Brembo for the rest of their careers. ​
 

Not only does Brembo not differentiate between established talents with millions of followers around the world and up-and-coming youngsters, but it is also extremely sympathetic towards young people who show promise, in a nod to its origins – Brembo was founded in 1961 as a small mechanical workshop and has gradually grown to establish a global presence. In fact, the company now relies heavily not only on its own technological expertise but also on its human resources, investing in the younger generation, in individuals whose enthusiasm, determination and competence can help enrich the group as a whole on both a personal and a professional level. 


These will be the Rossis and the Marquezes of the future, and who knows, maybe one day you, too, will follow in their footsteps.

 

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