Turn 6 at Spanish Grand Prix venue Jerez, known as Dry Sac, has been renamed in honour of retiring MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa at a gala at the circuit on Monday.
Pedrosa – a three-time MotoGP winner at Jerez – concluded his 18-year grand prix career with a fifth-place finish at last month's Valencia Grand Prix, after announcing he would be retiring from racing during the Sachsenring weekend despite having an offer on the table to continue with SRT Yamaha next year.
During a gala at Jerez – which was renamed in honour of the late Angel Nieto this year – the circuit confirmed it had changed the name of the Turn 6 hairpin, formerly Dry Sac, to Curva Dani Pedrosa.
Earlier this year, former Honda teammate Marc Marquez had Turn 10 at Aragon renamed in his honour, while in 2013 the final corner at Jerez was renamed for his Honda replacement Jorge Lorenzo.
Pedrosa will join KTM next year as its official test rider after signing a two-year deal with the Austrian manufacturer, and will have his first taste of the RC16 this week at Jerez in a private test.
Pedrosa brushes off Puig criticism
Earlier this week, Pedrosa's former manager and current Honda team boss Alberto Puig criticised the 31-time MotoGP race winner for an apparent lack of desire to win the world championship in his final years.
"I was with Dani full-time until 2013; in these final years I don't know exactly what he's done," stated Puig in an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.
"This year I worked with him and I saw a different Dani to the one I remembered. Maybe to be a MotoGP champion he should have assumed some things that he didn't do.
"Nothing is free in life. There were others who wanted to win the title more.
"I think he still has a more than a high enough level to be able to continue, because he is very talented. With one hand, putting in a bit of effort, he's a top-five rider."
In response on social media, Pedrosa said: “I'm sorry about the vision and the disappointment Alberto Puig has about my results.
“Having said that, I find it curious that he has changed his opinion about me so drastically overnight. I hope one day he can get over it.
“I gave him my very best, offering everything that I had in each moment. Doubting that a rider wants to be champion is not something you expect from someone working in this sport.
“I would have appreciated if all the resentment he's showing towards me now he had shared with me in person in one of the many chances we've had this year, instead of waiting for me to be out of the team, as I'm not interested at all in the controversy he's creating.
“In any case, he should leave those who don't speak poorly of him alone.”
Pedrosa's final MotoGP campaign proved to be his first without a podium or a win in his entire premier class career, and he ended the year 11th in the standings.
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