Dani Pedrosa aroused the nostalgia of all the fans of MotoGP when he announced his return to MotoGP with a ‘wild card’ in Jerez. After five years retired (although he already made another participation in Austria 2021), he returned to the grid of the premier category of motorcycling, but not even the most optimistic expected the great performance that the ’26’ is taking shape.
The KTM test rider already surprised everyone on the first day. In the first free practice session, Pedrosa marked the best time, leaving the entire grill speechless. In the second free practice session he was unable to improve his time, but the one he had set in the morning was only surpassed by Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales, leaving the Catalan as the third best of the day.
In qualifying, everyone expected a drop in performance for ’26’, with all the rivals already adapted to the circuit and with the tuning of their respective bikes done. However, he once again showed that his performance was well above what was expected for any driver who has been away from competition for five years.
He fought for pole until the last second, but finally finished in the sixth positionthe same position in which he ended up finishing in the sprint race to the applause of the Jerez circuit.
“Luckily I already ran in my time. The sprint really is quite aggressive. In the first corner they pushed me a bit and I lost positions. I had to overcome what I could, but it was difficult”, Pedrosa recounted what was his first sprint race.
Despite the lack of habit, the ’26’ adapted well and ended up in the position in which he started, something with which he ended up very happy, added to the podium of the official KTM riders: “it’s been fun because I saw the other KTMs first and second and finally having all three in the top six positions is very satisfying for me.”
Of course, despite the fact that Dani Pedrosa is competing with the rest of the riders, his role in Jerez is to try new things for the KTM, a task that the winner of the sprint race, Brad Binder, wanted to highlight: “Today We have done a very good job. Thanks to the team… and to Pedrosa, who has brought us a fantastic package of improvements“.
The podium, a real chance for the race
Leading a free practice session, fighting for pole position and finishing sixth in the sprint is already a fantastic result for a test driver who returns five years later as Pedrosa, but the chances of a podium finish in the race are realistic.
The ’26’ should suffer in a normal distance race, a job that despite doing in the tests, always implies greater tension and fatigue in real fire. However, on Friday he showed great race pace and he leaves the door open to the podium: “I don’t know what to expect from the race. Surely medium tires will be mounted tomorrow. I felt more comfortable with themLet’s see if the public helps me and gives me a push”.
