Brian Uriarte tells Crash.net how he might’ve ended up on a much different path without a conversation his father had when he was 10-years-old.
Brian Uriarte is emerging as one of MotoGP’s brightest prospects in his rookie Moto3 season, but his career could’ve taken him on a much different path.
Uriarte has won two races in his rookie season so far, his first coming at Mugello before he triumphed at the Sachsenring in the final race before the summer break.
Heading into the British Grand Prix, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was lying second in the championship to Max Quiles, Moto3’s 2025 star rookie who has become the class’ dominant force in 2026. However, a crash at Silverstone – his first in a race this year – has seen Uriarte drop to fourth in the standings.
Before joining the world championship, Uriarte was the fourth rider in four years – after Angel Piqueras, Alvaro Carpe, and Jose Antonio Rueda – to win both the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and the Junior GP title in the same season, meaning he was already distinguished as a major prospect before moving to the world championship full-time.
But his career was potentially only one conversation away from following a much different path.
“I like motocross a lot,” Uriarte said in an interview with Crash.net ahead of the British Grand Prix.
“I started with motocross and I think I have a good level there.”
Uriarte grew up in Cantabria, in northern Spain. There, there are no asphalt circuits, and the motocross tracks are made from the sand waste that comes from the region’s mines.
“I only train on sand because where I’m from there were many mines, that they cleaned the machines there, and the sand from the machines [is used to make the track],” he explained.
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It’s not that Uriarte grew up at Lommel, but the Spaniard developed a strong ability on a dirt bike as a child.
“I have raced with many riders now that they are in MX2,” he says.
“Well, for me, I’m proud to race with these guys and I beat some of them, which, for me, I’m really proud about this!”
He added: “Francisco Garcia, he’s going to Kawasaki next year, and I was racing with him, battling, and many other riders, with Carlos Prat, Joel Canadas – many riders from Spain that nowadays they are on top and I used to race with them.