Dani Pedrosa “didn’t expect” to make a second wildcard appearance in MotoGP’s Spanish Grand Prix, but cited his data from testing with KTM was “interesting”.
Despite retiring from full-time racing at the end of 2018, Pedrosa transitioned into a KTM test rider role has seen him participate in occasional races as a wildcard.
Last season, Pedrosa featured in the Spanish GP and San Marino GP, where he showcased his natural ability by finishing in fourth and seventh place respectively.
Speaking on Thursday ahead of the race weekend, the 31-time race winner stated that if it wasn’t for “things [that] got a little bit interesting in testing” he wouldn’t have been participating.
“I’m here at this great GP and looking forward to starting tomorrow,” the three-time MotoGP championship runner-up said.
“I didn’t expect, honestly, to do this one again after last year. But things got a little bit interesting in the testing, so that’s why we chose to do it once more.”
Upon being asked by Autosport if the “interesting” element was his speed, Pedrosa said: “Well, the speed is hard to judge when you race alone in testing.
“But we have some items to try, and they are items that are important to try in a more, let’s say, stressful way in order to see what can come out and if we can deal OK with it, because normally in the tests you have all day long to set up things and to modify the bike.”
“So, it’s also with this new format a lot more stressful as we saw last year. So, yes, this is one of the reasons.”
KTM has had a successful start to the season, with Brad Binder featuring on the podium in Qatar and rookie Pedro Acosta featuring on the podium in the last two rounds of Portimao and Circuit of the Americas.
These podium finishes have contributed to KTM’s second spot in the constructor’s championships thus far, with Acosta the highest KTM rider in the championship where he currently lies in fourth.
Pedrosa suggested that it is difficult to tell if the updates he is trying will help improve the KTM bike, especially as “records are being destroyed” on track due to lap times records being broken in 2024.
“It’s difficult to say from this perspective because when you are alone things are a bit different,” he added.
“So, that’s why we want to measure a little bit the feeling this weekend and see how the bike is performing because this year we can see clearly in the first three races the lap times and the race pace is a lot quicker than last year.
“So, we also have to judge that and adapt that to this year because suddenly everybody is almost half a second or more faster than last year.
“Records are being destroyed pretty much everywhere, even if the track conditions were not super perfect, like in Portugal.
“And the race total time is much faster. So, yes, we have some things we would like to try but we have to put this [increase in speeds] into the equation to see if it’s matching.”
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