MotoGP, Pedrosa: “Lorenzo motivated me. I learned a lot from Stoner”

Dani Pedrosa is enjoying a new adventure on four wheels, but he remains part of the motorcycling world, his home for the last twenty years, undertaking the role of test rider for KTM. As a former rider, he has a particular understanding of the issues, and touches on the latest hot topics. 

The work at KTM and the arrival of Miller

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Firstly, the Austrian manufacturer and its current struggles. Despite an excellent start, with a second-place finish for Binder in Qatar and a win for Miguel Oliveira in Indonesia, KTM has not been a frontrunner, with Pedrosa explaining: “Changes have been made and we’re still waiting to see the results. We still have more important things to change, like the engine, but the regulation doesn’t allow it for now”.

And so they are focused on other aspects: “We need to work on the balance of the frame, one of our main problems. We’re still using the hard front tyres a lot, and one of the main problems is when we can’t mount them”.

Jack Miller will arrive next year, but the Spaniard has not yet made up his mind as to the Australian: “I don’t know him very well. From the outside, I can see he’s a very versatile rider, he’s very talented when the track conditions are tough, and he also adapts to very different bikes”.

But for Pedrosa one rider in particular has stood out this season: “Aleix Espargaró is the revelation. It’s no fluke because he’s up front in practice and the races and also in different conditions. He’s able to run up front despite the real variability we have now. He’s doing more than the others and sometimes this is enough”. Meanwhile, Honda, the manufacturer with which Dani spent his whole career, is in crisis: “I can’t say a lot from the outside. I know Honda, but the Honda of my day, and what we did during the years I was there. I don’t know if things are the same or different now, I can’t judge”.

The Japanese manufacturer’s difficulties began with Marc Marquez’s injuries, the Spaniard now having undergone a fourth surgery: “Everyone has their own way of dealing with these situations. I’ve had many operations where everything went well and I was lucky. And I’ve had others where there were issues and you fall into a spiral of surgeries. I know the situation, and not only me, as many champions have been through it”. And it’s not easy to get through those tough times: “The longer it goes on, the more it impacts on your confidence. You spend more time at home or at the hospital looking for answers and questioning whether your body will ever be as it was before. The mental aspect is important, as well as being surrounded by positive people”.

Of all his great rivals, one stands out: “Jorge (Lorenzo) was the greatest. We fed off each other, I was very motivated to race against him, Stoner too, but it was with Jorge that I felt the need to push harder because he came along wanting to take that place”.

Stoner has said that Pedrosa was the rival who taught him the most and the Spaniard reveals: “We saw each other recently and I said the same thing to him. We raced together since I was 15, in the Spanish championship, but almost always on different teams”. And then they shared the same garage in the top class: “When he came to Repsol Honda I was able to understand how he did things that I couldn’t understand if I just saw them on TV. He opened my eyes and I learned a lot”.

Traslated by Heather Watson

MOTOGP, STONER: “PECCO NEEDS TO ACCEPT HE CAN’T WIN EVERY RACE”