Red Bull KTM Factory Racing will count on the presence of test rider and MotoGP Legend Dani Pedrosa for the Gran Premio de España at the Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto during April and for round four of 21 in the 2023 season.
The winner of 31 MotoGP Grands Prix will compete with the KTM RC16 for the second time. The first occasion came at the Red Bull Ring for the 2021 Grand Prix of Styria where he scored points and a top ten result with 10th position.
Pedrosa has been part of a comprehensive test team since 2019 and, along with another former Grand Prix winner Mika Kallio, has helped fashion the KTM RC16 to achieve victories and podiums.
Pedrosa has won four Grands Prix at Jerez. He claimed the 30th MotoGP victory of his career (the 53rd in world championship competition through 125, 250 and the premier class) at the venue in southern Spain in 2017. He has walked the Jerez podium nine times. He will share the garage for 2023 with current Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders Brad Binder and Jack Miller.
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “It’s fantastic news that Dani wants to refresh himself with MotoGP this season and 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.”
Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsports Director: “Mika Kallio, Dani Pedrosa and our whole test program is so important and of course they have limited track time. 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.”