DANI PEDROSA TO RETURN TO THE 2023 MOTOGP GRID WITH WILDCARD OUTING AT MISANO
The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team will again welcome the #26 KTM RC16 into play. MotoGP Legend Dani Pedrosa will follow-up his popular wildcard appearance and 7th place finish in Jerez, Spain earlier this season with another race start at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini from 8-10 September.
The 37-year-old test rider, former world champion and owner of 31 MotoGP victories and 112 podiums showed his class and enduring competitiveness by setting the fastest lap after Practice 1 (then top three on combined times at the end of the day) at Jerez for the Gran Premio MotoGP™ Guru by Gryfyn de España at the end of April. Pedrosa then used the newest configuration of the RC16 to ride to a very creditable 7th in the 24-lap race.
The Spaniard will join Brad Binder and Jack Miller at the Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli for the twelfth Grand Prix of the season this summer. The run will represent his third competitive outing on the RC16 since retirement at the end of 2018. As well as his 7th in Jerez, Pedrosa also captured 10th at the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Dani’s weekend at Misano will be followed by the second and final official mid-season IRTA test at the venue on Monday. He has previously celebrated four podiums and two victories in San Marino.