Leonardo Martinazzi raises the bar: goals, ambitions and redemption in Moto4 MotoJunior
Road RacingMonday, 02 February 2026 at 20:00
Leonardo Martinazzi once again among the Italian protagonists in Moto4 MotoJunior, this time with AC Racing. His story and goals in the interview.
After the rookie year, it’s time to get noticed. The 15-year-old Leonardo Martinazzi (turning 16 next December), born in Brescia but adopted by Misano, will line up this year with AC Racing after a learning-focused 2025 with Team Echovit Pasini Racing. The category is still the Moto4 European Cup, the new name for the European Talent Cup in FIM MotoJunior, where Martinazzi now aims to take that necessary step forward. Do you know his story? He tells it himself, along with his ambitions and goals for the new racing season.
THE FUTURE
Your 2026 will still be in MotoJunior, this time with AC Racing.
There was already the idea of changing, for various reasons it didn’t work out. AC Racing had already approached me in the past to do PreMoto3, but we couldn’t find an agreement. In Misano I met Alessandro [Cassinari] and Riccardo [Rama] in person, I liked them right away and we started talking. We signed before the Barcelona round.
An early move, did it give you peace of mind?
Yes. They hadn’t won the ETC title yet, but they already had plenty of requests and luckily I got there in time, they wanted me on the team too and we managed to reach an agreement.
Last year you debuted in ETC, now Moto4. How do you see this new season, what do you expect?
I didn’t go as I wanted, a few things happened that I didn’t like and that held me back. But it’s also my fault, I only took advantage of good opportunities a few times. In that category everyone is very fast and in the first year you’re unsettled, it’s very different from Italy. You have to seize every tiny chance to do well, and that’s what I was missing. I also struggled on the tracks, I didn’t know them… There were many things. It was a learning year, now we need to put into practice what we’ve learned!
It seems it’s not easy to jump from CIV’s PreMoto3 to JuniorGP’s ETC.
In my opinion it also depends on how all the events are organized. In Spain you have four 40-minute sessions between Thursday and Friday, managed completely differently from the CIV, where there are three 20-minute sessions. And then there are the pre-qualifiers for direct Q2, which change the mindset of all the riders. There you have to exploit very well the fact that there are more spots to get in, which I realized a bit late. Qualifying then is a “fight to the death,” almost a race! There are about 14 of us in a group, slipstream and references matter a lot… Unfortunately I only made one Q2, but it was completely different from Q1 because the management changes. If you’re not good at setting a time you don’t even make the race, so you need to wake up on that too! And the tracks are very different from the Italian ones.
Was there one that challenged you the most?
Jerez challenged me a lot, it was really tough. It’s a very technical track and we hadn’t tested there, unlike Estoril and Barcelona, and it was difficult. I’m not very strong in long, fast corners… Maybe it was also a bit of a mental thing: in Estoril I didn’t qualify because we rode in the wet and I couldn’t take advantage of it.
There was also a major tire change, from Dunlop to Pirelli.
I’m someone who adapts fairly quickly, the problem is then managing to go fast. The Pirellis demand something different from the Dunlops, I’m still learning them and looking for the limit. I’d say that’s the hardest part.
Is rain a problem for you?
At Magny-Cours I actually went quite well! Even though on Thursday I had a really hard hit… A mechanic crossed the pit lane, I hit him square on and I had a concussion, while he wasn’t hurt at all. Then I raced anyway: I didn’t ride on Friday, on Saturday I recovered a bit and we did all the tests we needed to do, even if it wasn’t enough.
Is there anything you need to change, or any flaw to correct, for this year?
Yes. It also helps that we’ve started going to ride in Spain, you train better and you might find yourself on track with the guys who won last year, like Bujosa or Cano, or even riders like Pedro Acosta or David Alonso… They push you to improve. That doesn’t happen in Italy.
What are your first goals for 2026?
I’m not someone who sets goals. First of all I want to qualify and do the races, then do better and better. I know my potential, but I have to start from there.
Is there also another parallel championship planned or are you not thinking about that yet?
I’d like to do PreMoto3 in the CIV (now Moto4, ed.), I’d use the same bike and that would be fine for me. But there’s the problem of different tires… We’re still evaluating some proposals, we’ll see later.
THE BIKES AND SCHOOL
Where does your journey begin?
I’ve lived behind the Misano circuit since I was three, when my parents moved there. My dad raced motorcycles, did a few years of Superbike in the Italian championship, plus other series. But I got into bikes thanks to my mom, who’s also in the motorsport world. My uncle raced in the Supermoto World Championship. My dad didn’t want me to because he thought I’d feel obliged, but when they took me to San Mauro they realized I really loved it. I was 4 years old.
Then came the first competitions.
At 8 I started racing minimoto, and in the last year I did pretty well: I finished 2nd in the Italian championship and 3rd in the European Open A. Then I moved to Ohvale with Pasini Racing and Kevin Calia’s Team74, straight into the 190 because I was already “big,” and I held my own pretty well. Then I went to PreMoto3; according to Ilario Pasini it was better to do it right away, so I moved up a class with his team. We did a year there and then he thought it was better to go to the CEV: in 2025 we switched, and it was the right choice.
Was that climb too fast, or would you do it again?
I’d do it again. Maybe with a few different decisions, but I wouldn’t change the categories. I admit that after PreMoto3 we weren’t very convinced about moving to Spain, but Ilario explained what that championship was like and that it was a necessary step: one year to use as training and the next to be competitive. At the end of 2024 I was also supposed to do the last race, moved to Estoril because of the flooding in Valencia, but for a few weeks they didn’t grant me the waiver, so I couldn’t do it. They were all the right choices.
Given your age, you’re still in school. Can you tell us what you’re doing?
Yes, I attend the Marco Polo Technical Institute for Tourism in Rimini. I’m doing the Technical-Economic track for Tourism because they teach more foreign languages and I like that, also because it’ll help me do better in the motorcycle world. I manage pretty well with studying: last year I struggled a bit more, but luckily I remember things quickly; I pay more attention in class so I can finish faster at home. I always have something to study anyway; I catch up when I’m traveling or in the evening. Also because my parents have always told me that if I don’t do well in school, I don’t get to ride!
Have you ever thought about anything else besides being a rider?
No! I’ve never had, nor do I want to have, a plan B. I want to see this path through to the end.
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