Dani Pedrosa, a gift to the fans in Jerez: “I’m touched by my skill, I don’t like doing something wrong” | Motorcycle sport | Kinds of sports

Dani Pedrosa Ramal (Castellar del Vallès, 38) was a big sensation at the Spanish Grand Prix last year and will make a repeat guest appearance this weekend thanks to his role as a KTM test rider. The MotoGP legend, three-time minor world champion, three-time premier class runner-up, has been retired from top competition since 2018, although his double World Cup foray last year made it clear he is still in the race. top form. His sixth place in the 2023 Grand Prix, followed by a fourth place at Misano, left the fans and the team indifferent. corral amazed.

“Mostly I care about skill, I don’t like to do anything wrong,” Dani Pedrosa explains to EL PAÍS about his new return to the ring. “I give everything I have inside, and not only in this Grand Prix or last year, where there are moments when things go better or worse. “I always give 100%, the team is very involved and the tests we do go well,” he emphasizes about his goal, which inevitably excites the fans. He is the third driver to win the most Jerez races (four) ever, and the second with the most podium finishes (11). In 298 Grand Prix races during his career, the Catalan was on the podium more than half the time (153), scoring a total of 54 World Cup victories.

“My mission is to help, to contribute my grain of sand, that’s what I want,” he insists. “Then obviously there’s the factor that you’re giving people the opportunity to have a good time, and I don’t have many of those opportunities left, so you have to take advantage of them,” he stresses. What is a gift to the public is for him just another task in his mission, although he seems freer than ever. “People come into the world with a mission, and throughout life a person must find what their mission is and how to move forward in it. We don’t come educated and we will never be perfect, but one must realize one’s limitations or shortcomings and sharpen oneself over the years,” he muses.

Since 2019, Pedrosa has not stopped working overtime on the development of the KTM RC16 together with the Austrian brand’s powerful test team. The ultimate goal, like any factory in this category, is to create a world champion motorcycle. This is not an easy path, although you have already crossed out all the steps leading up to the decisive milestone: pillars podiums, victories, the prototype achieved everything except the title.

The arrival of Pedro Acosta, a sensation at the start of the championship at 19, appears to have combined the best version of an Alpine machine with a talent destined to make history. The group newcomer took advice from Pedrosa, as well as Pol Espargaro, in his brilliant adaptation in the premier class. “You have a story inside your head, it’s not the same as talking to someone,” emphasizes the Murcia phenomenon. “I’ll certainly try to follow him because I have a lot more to learn from him than he does from me,” he adds after hearing the veteran could try to follow him given the two podium finishes he’s accumulated under his belt. first three races. in the elite of motorsport.

Another legend, Jorge Lorenzo, confirmed today that Acosta will be able to win this tournament. “From what we’ve seen of his progress, it’s not impossible,” Pedrosa admits of his GasGas teammate. As for his own performance, although he was sixth last year and narrowly missed out on the podium at the San Marino Grand Prix, the Catalan again starts the weekend low-key. “I hope we can justify it,” smiles the man from Castellar. “We have the same approach: we try to have as much fun as possible from it and draw as many conclusions as possible. These are things that we have already tested and want to test in a race format. If they go well, the factory drivers will be able to try them on Monday and that could help,” he concludes.

In the past, KTM’s top management has already praised Pedrosa’s role in its structure. “We are very pleased to have such a pilot who brings so much experience to our project. He maintains his passion and has always wanted a job that requires the best from him,” said Pete Beyrer, owner of the group. Jack Miller, one of the brand’s official drivers, called him one of the “best test drivers in history.”

“I feel good, and it’s not that I felt bad before, but people’s reactions are very nice,” Pedrosa notes, smiling, keeping the tensions of the past years locked away. He samurai even made a revolution corral After accepting Lorenzo’s challenge to compete in a boxing match between old enemies. “After retirement, I can reflect, grow, and try to apply my strengths to this,” he says of this openness to the world.

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