Zen Mitani, Moto3's new face: from 'maybe I'll quit' to Aoki's advice, now the World Championship dream

Zen Mitani makes his full-time debut in the Moto3 World Championship this year: the profile of the Japanese rookie.

Among the rookies of the upcoming Moto3 season there’s a young and interesting Japanese rider. Zen Mitani will be one of the two riders fielded by Honda Team Asia for the 2026 season. Not a complete newcomer, since he contested three races in 2025, but this will be his first full season on the international stage. His story might seem straightforward, but it’s important to highlight the support of a certain Nobuatsu Aoki, without whom this journey could have ended very early.

A quick reminder of who he is: born in 2007 in Sakuragawa (Ibaraki Prefecture), destined for motorcycles ever since he went to watch a GP at Motegi at the tender age of three. On that occasion his father let him try a small bike: love at first sight. That’s how the two-wheeled adventure of the young Japanese rider began, and in 2024 he put his signature on the Asia Talent Cup, the ideal calling card for stepping into the 2025 Rookies Cup and JuniorGP. In the former he finished 7th with two podiums, in the latter he placed 11th in the championship. He made his Moto3 World Championship debut in 2025 in Indonesia with Snipers Team, standing in for the injured Carraro, followed by two wild cards with Honda Team Asia at Portimao and Valencia. The latest chapter in a story that, as we mentioned, almost came to a halt earlier.

Among Zen Mitani’s many role models (in addition to Ogura, Marquez, Rossi) is the 54-year-old former Japanese rider, a legend in his home country and in motorcycle racing in general: a brilliant 1997 500cc world championship bronze medalist, former Suzuki MotoGP test rider, winner of the 2009 Suzuka 8 Hours, and the eldest of the well-known trio of brothers alongside double 125cc champion Haruchika and Takuma. A pivotal figure in the life of the future Moto3 rookie: Zen Mitani would soon join the Aoki Trek Sports Club, a motorcycle school founded by Nobuatsu Aoki himself. An important start, but the decisive turning point would come years later.

It was at this point that Zen Mitani began to have a recurring thought—indeed, he had almost decided: “Maybe I should quit”, as he admitted in an interview with Pirelli Japan. He had just finished his first season in the Asia Talent Cup (from this year the Moto4 Asia Cup) with 5th place overall, a result that didn’t satisfy him at all, and the family’s financial situation wasn’t the best… The championship organizers included him again for 2024, but the young Japanese rider wasn’t convinced he wanted to continue. He ultimately decided to seek advice from Nobuatsu Aoki. One sentence was enough: “You have no choice but to keep going!”, and Zen Mitani listened.

“He said it firmly, adding that he would support me in many ways,” the young Japanese rider continued in the same interview. “If I hadn’t joined the Aoki Trek Sports Club, I don’t think I would have kept racing.” In 2024 he repeated the Asia Talent Cup and decisively took the title, and last year, as mentioned, he debuted in the Rookies Cup and JuniorGP. In parallel, he enrolled in the Faculty of Sports Sciences at Nihon University, aiming to learn every aspect of the motorcycling world—especially training and nutrition—gradually improving his conditioning. However, he will put his university commitments on hold this year to focus solely on the Moto3 World Championship, determined to learn and grow.