Even though Dani Pedrosa declared his active career in MotoGP ending at the end of the 2018 season, he remains with premier class fans to this day. In his role as test and development rider for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, the diminutive Spaniard has now made three wildcard appearances – once in 2021 at Spielberg and twice in 2023 (Jerez and Misano). . . And the plan is for the Wildcard to return to the Jerez MotoGP in 2024.
In 2023, in the first free practice session at the “Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto”, Dani recorded the fastest time on the KTM RC16 and then secured sixth position on the grid in qualifying. In his first sprint, Pedrosa also finished sixth, only 1.738 seconds behind sprint winner Brad Binder.
And the MotoGP legend also recorded a very good achievement at Misano. In fourth place, he missed the podium by just a tenth of a second. These results show that the former racer, who during his MotoGP career only raced for the Honda manufacturer (2006 to 2018), still has promising potential and speed.
And it looks like we will also see Pedrosa in action at the Spanish GP ( Jerez) this year, as confirmed by KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer “Dani recently tested for us at Jerez. He is very strong and he is also super fast in his tests. I think he’s ready. We are definitely ready for him.” . . However, we will wait together for official information from KTM regarding this matter.
