Too young for the top class? Diogo Moreira emerging as MotoGP’s future sensation

As mentioned, Moreira is one in a queue. He might not have the stats of some peers but is nudging along to the front of the line courtesy of his raw ability and technique. These attributes then fit in with other factors like his mental state (seemingly unshakeable), focus and having a supportive inner circle.

“We moved to Spain when I was 14,” he says over bottles of freezing cold water and on the veranda of his Italtrans team hospitality at a humid German Grand Prix. “We live there for most of the year and would only go back home at the end of the season for a month. I had to adapt to life, try to make some friends. I went to school for three years and learnt Catalan…but I am forgetting a bit now.”

‘Home’ is on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, but his HQ was to the far west of Cataluyna — Márquez territory — up until last year when he relocated to join many of the MotoGP frat in the comfy sporty and fiscal confines of Andorra to the north. Around the Alcarras region Moreira and his family had a base for platform contests like the European Talent Cup, FIM JuniorGP and Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. When not in school he indulged in repeated sessions of motocross and dirt track to refine the balance, co-ordination, feel and throttle control that now has the MotoGP community in raptures.

Diogo’s English is passable. His light-eyed gaze sometimes expressionless. He’s diminutive and slight. Motorcycling of varying types is clearly a passion, a challenge, an obsession and an art to study. “Motocross for physical and flat track for controlling the throttle; they are both pretty good, but also motocross for enjoyment,” he smiles. Moreira talks of being spellbound as a kid by MXGP riders in Brazilian Grands Prix at Indaiatuba, Campo Grande, Beto Carrero and Trindade (close to Goiania where MotoGP will be in 2026) in the early 2010s. His references are nine-time world champion Tony Cairoli and, tellingly, former GP winner Gautier Paulin: the Frenchman was an ex-BMX World Champ and noted for being one of the most stylish racers on the scene, even if he never managed to grasp the title.

“Motocross helps me here [in Moto2] to make fast laps,” he explains. “In qualifying I’m usually at the front. It was the same in Moto3 and now in Moto2 I make good times. The track changes in motocross and makes you adjust, and you have to do that also in Moto2 to find the flying lap.”

While hazardous, motocross is a popular pastime and training method for the MotoGP set. Most of them ride dirt bikes because the connection between traction and the right hand coupled with the improvisation and interpretation needed for the right lines and shifting terrain could be deemed as exaggerated skillsets. They then get filtered for the asphalt. It’s also knackering. Double MXGP world champion Jorge Prado told me in 2024 that from all the MotoGP riders he’d seen or ridden with, Moreira was the most gifted on a motocross bike.

“The guy is super talented for sure, you only have to see his videos making flat track or supermoto or motocross or whatever, he’s fast in all the disciplines,” concurs Acosta.

“If I enjoy riding the bike then I will always be fast,” Moreira says. “I need to enjoy it. Otherwise, I cannot be aggressive or do anything. I am learning a lot this year because I am racing more at the front and with [Aron] Canet and Manu [Gonzalez]. I have been trying to see things. I need to understand and learn. If I can pass and beat someone like Manu then I will. Otherwise, I must learn something from him. If I don’t make ‘0’s and crashes then I will be there.”

On two wheels Moreira might be coddling gold but 2025 has been a lesson for off-track attention. The subject of MotoGP now follows him around the paddock. “It is difficult to manage,” he admits. “When I started in the world championship in Moto3 I was so young – 17 or 18 – and because I did well people started coming up to me. It was tough to manage that. Eventually I learnt to follow my line and listen to my personal team. That’s the important thing: to stay in the family zone.”

In a nation of fervent motor sport fans like Brazil, the pull is even stronger. “Year by year it is something different,” he offers. “After Barcelona last year [the final GP of 2024] I went to Brazil for two weeks and spent one of those weeks making interviews and media appearances. I think when I go back now then there will be more. It might be like this year by year, no? I just have to organise things well. But, it also makes me happy because it means the job is going well. I’m proud of that.”

Regarding his future, in Germany last month Diogo said: “I think I am too young for MotoGP.” Some of the relative inexperience or youthful abandon would come out two days later. Coming back from a poor start Moreira worked his way from 16th to 4th at the tight Sachsenring before colliding with Jake Dixon as their lines came together. He almost crashed but re-entered the track without looking, while climbing the Omega curve and straight into the path of the luckless Alonso. Cue a shredding of metal. Moreira, initially feted for his comeback was then condemned, and penalised with a pitlane start the following weekend in Czechia. He’d also hurt his right elbow and eventually pulled out of the GP at Brno. After the summer break and in better shape he resumed his authority in Austria. A holed radiator and DNF for Gonzalez was a gift that put him in the frame for the championship again. “Germany was a big crash…but it was the best race of my life,” he assessed at Red Bull Ring. “This weekend I pushed to get that confidence back.”

Austria was the start of the countdown clock for the 2026 MotoGP grid. Yamaha had a disastrous weekend but the new M1 V4 is a matter of weeks away from making a first competitive outing and Moreira is still being linked to the second Yamaha Prima Pramac saddle. He’d be alongside another incoming rookie in the form of WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlıoğlu. The berth could be at the expense of veterans Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira (both 30).

“Many people have been asking the same question, and I need to be focused on this year,” Diogo stated post-race in Red Bull Ring. “After Hungary we’ll have an idea. If I go then I need to understand the bike. It’s another world. The offers are there. Maybe this weekend I will sit with my manager to look. For a rookie I think it is better to have a long contract, it’s a difficult category and to [have time to] understand the bike.”

Moreira might not secure his first world title in 2025 but his short story is clearly one of immense prospective, and this obscures any deficiency in the win tally. “That guy, if he comes to MotoGP without winning a championship, he will not have forgotten to ride a bike,” Acosta said last Sunday. “He’s a talent and you cannot forget that.”

Maybe the Red Bull Ring will need more wall space.