KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa describes what is important when working away from MotoGP race weekends, especially in times of concession rules
Dani Pedrosa has not been racing MotoGP full-time since 2019. Nevertheless, the three-time world championship runner-up has remained closely associated with the premier class to this day. Pedrosa’s job since his (actual) retirement has been as a test and development rider for KTM.
In his role for KTM, which Pedrosa took on immediately after his departure from Honda (at the end of 2018), the Spaniard initially limited himself to test rides for two and a half years. In August 2021, however, he made a surprising race comeback at the Styrian Grand Prix on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
Starting with a wildcard on a fifth KTM RC16, “Little Samurai” immediately showed that he had no rust on him. In the very first free practice session in Spielberg, he scraped into the top 10, and although he narrowly missed out on a top 10 grid position in qualifying, he finished tenth in the race.
Pedrosa has fared even better than at the 2021 Styria weekend in his two other wildcard appearances since then. In the 2023 MotoGP season, the KTM test rider competed at the Spain weekend (Jerez) and the San Marino weekend (Misano). He finished all four races (two sprints, two Grands Prix) in the top 7. The 32 World Championship points collected in just two race weekends put Pedrosa ahead of Honda regular rider Joan Mir in the final 2023 MotoGP overall standings!
The work he does as a test rider is fundamentally different from that of a regular rider, as Pedrosa explains. “You have to be able to look further ahead. Your work is complemented by the work of numerous technicians and engineers who are also looking ahead,” Pedrosa is quoted as saying in the new documentary “Test rider: Dani Pedrosa”, published on the streaming platform DAZN.
Perhaps the most important aspect to consider in this context, according to Pedrosa, are the concession rules. “You have to remember that nowadays one [wrong] decision you make can destroy the life of the team for a year,” said the KTM test rider.
“Once you’ve made a decision, the regulations say you can’t change it. This applies to the engine, for example,” says Pedrosa and explains: “So if the engineers come up with the idea of testing two different engines, then the decision has to be the right one. Because if you make the wrong one and the whole project goes in the wrong direction, you will be penalized for the whole year.”
When selecting the engines, it is important to find the right compromise for as many tracks on the MotoGP racing calendar as possible. “If you look at the 21 tracks and you only focus on the straights, then you might look good in three races but bad in the others,” says Pedrosa, citing an example of too much focus on peak engine performance.
“The opposite can also happen, namely that you pay too much attention to a balanced characteristic [of the engine]. Then you might look quite good on some tracks, but you can’t set any accents,” says the KTM test rider.
All in all, according to Pedrosa, his work at KTM is “a process where you first create a base and then take small steps upwards until you have a pyramid that you feel is on a solid foundation. It’s a philosophy that may not be understood from the outside, but it leads to better results in the long run.”
