Diogo Moreira, you're already a legend: Brazil, the land of Pelé, Ronaldo and Senna, has its motorcycle hero

From -61 points behind Gonzalez to a Legend of the World Championship. Diogo Moreira, just 21 years old, wrote an incredible story this year. Brazil had never had a world champion on two wheels until now, and he did it with the #10, so meaningful for a football-loving country. The number of the mythical Pelé and the great Ronaldo, to name two, and the one Moreira wore to capture a Moto2 crown of enormous weight. He’ll have to give it up in MotoGP for #11, since #10 is already Luca Marini’s, but he has already made history: in motorsport there have been the legendary Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Emerson Fittipaldi, but that’s only Formula 1, so four wheels. Now the South American country has its world champion on two wheels as well: next year’s return of the World Championship to the Autodromo Ayrton Senna will be an incredible celebration, with the young São Paulo native making his MotoGP debut!

Would you ever have believed it? I’ve already admitted before that no, I didn’t see him as title material this 2025 season, and I probably wasn’t the only one. Finding him 61 points down on Manuel Gonzalez, this year’s big favorite, almost halfway through the season certainly didn’t seem to put him in the running for the world crown. But apparently the Brazilian just needed time to figure things out and shift into the right gear. Maybe a push also came from the prospect of moving up to MotoGP? That’s my personal hypothesis; what we have now is an incredible story. Diogo Moreira, a budding motocrosser brought into road racing by Barros at age 10, who grew up in Spain as a rider from the age of 12 and arrived in the World Championship in 2022, immediately began to threaten and rewrite all of Barros’ previous records.

At the same time, he made a fine impression in the Supermoto wild cards he contested over the years, along with a few appearances at Valentino Rossi’s Ranch. In fact, paired with Thomas Chareyre, he even won the 2024 100 KM of the Champions. Back to the GPs, this year he absolutely exploded, delivering his best season ever: four wins, five podiums, four DNFs and only two finishes outside the top 10—or rather, outside the top 5. “I’m so happy, I have no words to describe it.” Diogo Moreira struggled to hold back tears in parc fermé, after already shedding them once he crossed the finish line, overcome with emotion. “Thanks to everyone who stood by me, let’s enjoy the moment and see you next year!” But 2026 actually starts tomorrow, with the MotoGP tests, where we’ll see him for the first time in LCR Honda colors.

The emotion also shines through the teary eyes of Alex Barros, long the best Brazilian rider in the World Championship and the one who recognized great potential for road racing in young Moreira. “I knew he had the potential to do well in the World Championship,” he told Sky Sport right after the end of the Valencia GP. “It’ll take time, but he can do very well in MotoGP too.” The memories aren’t lacking either: “I met Diogo at a motocross race; he was 10 years old. That’s where I saw his talent, but first we had to understand if he liked track bikes… We did a test and he liked them: after two tests I saw enormous talent, but clearly we had to work on it.” Eleven years later he’s also in Valencia celebrating Brazil’s first world title on two wheels, and with his own discovery, just a year before MotoGP returns to the South American country. “Brazil needed a hero—now samba!” Barros concluded with a quip.