MotoGP veteran Dani Pedrosa will join KTM as a test rider for the next two years, the Austrian marque has confirmed.
Pedrosa, 33, announced in the summer that he would retire from racing at the end of 2018, but was open to taking on a test position.
On Friday KTM confirmed that it has secured Pedrosa’s services for 2019 and 2020, and he will join Mika Kallio – who has been temporarily replaced by Randy de Puniet while he recovers from a knee injury sustained in a wildcard outing at the Sachsenring – as a test rider.
Pedrosa will provide support to KTM riders Johann Zarco and Pol Espargaro, as well as Tech3 pair Hafizh Syahrin and Miguel Oliveira.
“To have a rider of Dani’s skill and experience as part of our MotoGP project is another strong sign that we are moving in the right direction and we are still pushing as hard as we can,” said KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer.
“We have seen how competitive MotoGP is this year and how fractions of a second can sometimes hide real progress and valuable lessons.
“We hope – and we are very excited – that Dani’s input alongside Mika Kallio and feeding into the two teams we’ll have on the grid next year will really help to close the gap even further.
“I think we can feel very optimistic about our possibilities for the upcoming seasons.
“I’d like to thank the whole crew at the factory, all the strong effort at the races and for all those testing miles as we come close to the end of our second year.
“Also to Dani: it is great that he believes and trusts in us and what we are doing.”
Pedrosa has spent the entirety of his World Championship career with Honda but shares a sponsor with KTM in the form of energy drink giant Red Bull, while current KTM team boss Mike Leitner was a former crew chief of the Spaniard's.
Pedrosa confirmed his departure from Honda – which he later revealed was planned at the signing of his current deal – following the Mugello race, and became heavily linked to the incoming SIC Petronas Yamaha team.
The SIC team will instead field Moto2 race winner Fabio Quartararo alongside '17 intermediate class champion Franco Morbidelli, with the latter receiving factory-supported machinery.
While KTM can make up to six wildcard entries due to its status as a concession team, it will scale back its third-rider race outings next year due to its distraction to the test team, with Pedrosa highly unlikely to make any one-off appearances.
Pedrosa will likely make his first appearance on the RC16 at the post-race test in Valencia in November, while current Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo takes his place at Honda.
