KTM announced the return of Dani Pedrosa to MotoGP. The ’26’ will make a wildcard in the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez as confirmed by the Austrian brand in the presentation of its new motorcycle for 2023, but… what are its reasons?
Francesco Guidottihead of the official KTM team, explained the reason for the Spaniard’s participation: “This shows how important Dani is to us. The contribution it can give us is quite high and we try to give him opportunities to develop his full potential”.
Pedrosa has always stated since he was the test driver for the Austrians that he was open to racing, but as long as it was useful for the team and that his information was necessary for the regular drivers.
He already participated in the Austrian Grand Prix in 2021, causing good sensations with a final tenth place. And if it does appear on the scene again, it is to test the new prototype that KTM will have this year, which they say is very promising, and test it in the competition format.
“I’m glad he’s ready to wildcard. Reading between the lines, I wouldn’t do a wildcard if I thought the bike wasn’t competitive“, commented Pit Beirerdirector of KTM Motorsport.
Therefore, the main reason for Dani Pedrosa’s return to the circuits is to confirm the competitiveness of the new bike and extract more information to continue its correct evolution, but also for another aspect: sprint races.
MotoGP has introduced a new weekend format where on Saturdays, after the ‘qualification’, there will be a race with half the duration of the one on Sunday. A new format that Pedrosa wants to know in order to better carry out his work as a tester.
“With the new sprint races it would be interesting to come back to see a little more how it feelswhat are the factors that affect or what things happen during the weekend to take them into account later when I do the tests and be a little more in line with what the riders need”, explained the ’26’ to ‘Motorbike Magazine’ one month ago.
In this way, Dani Pedrosa returns to MotoGP for a race, which will be held in Jerez on April 30. However, the reason for his return is clear: to obtain useful information for the development of the KTM.
