Dani Pedrosa will return to the MotoGP grid for the first time in two years as he wildcards for Red Bull KTM in 2023.
The 31-time Grand Prix race winner will make his second appearance aboard the RC16 for April’s Spanish GP at the Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto, his maiden outing resulting in a top ten finish at the Red Bull Ring for the Grand Prix of Styria back in 2021.
The KTM test rider has graced the Jerez podium nine times throughout his career, four from the top step, with his most recent securing his 30th premier class victory back in 2017.
“It’s fantastic news that Dani wants to refresh himself with MotoGP this season,” Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager, Francesco Guidotti, confirmed on Thursday. “Jerez makes good sense as it’s a popular place for us to test and, also, he knows the place very well.
"It will be an ideal opportunity for him to get more information for the future development of our race bike and we look forward to having him with us in the pitbox.”
“Mika Kallio, Dani Pedrosa and our whole test program is so important and of course they have limited track time,” Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsports Director, added. “Dani is a strong guy with a strong mentality and we always said when he wanted to do a wildcard then we’d be happy to make that happen. The perfect ‘test’ is always a race situation. If we can work on future development parts then it is super-important and I’m very happy that Dani will race again.”
