VETERAN MotoGP star Dani Pedrosa will finally reveal his plans for the future on the eve of this weekend’s Grand Prix of Germany.
Pedrosa, in his 18th season at world championship level and 13th in the premier class, was told last month that Honda will cut him loose at the end of the 2018 season.
Still only 32 years old, Pedrosa is arguably the greatest rider never to win a MotoGP title.
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A three-time champ in the junior classes, the Spaniard has accumulated 31 MotoGP race wins (equal eighth on the all-time list) amid a total of 54 across all classes.
Should he breakthrough for a win before the year is out, he will hold the record for the most consecutive seasons with a win in the premier class at 13.
But that may be where his career ends.
It is widely speculated that Pedrosa could decide to retire at the end of the year, but he has also been linked with a ride with the new Sepang International Circuit team that has secured a supply of satellite Yamahas for the next three seasons.
After a false start in Catalunya — where a press conference revealed that he had nothing to reveal — Pedrosa will announce his plans for the future in a special press conference on Thursday at the Sachsenring.
This is what our FOX SPORTS MotoGP experts expect to happen.
CHRIS VERMEULEN
It’s a difficult one to call but my opinion is that Dani will not race in MotoGP in 2019.
I’m not sure if he will completely retire, become a test rider for Honda or maybe even head to the MotoE electric bike championship (just a guess) but I don’t think he will continue racing in the main class.
It looks to me in the last few races, especially since he was given the news from Honda that they won’t be keeping him next year, that Dani’s head is not there. That could just be because he has a difficult decision to make — and let’s face it, he hasn’t had a big decision to make since he became a HRC rider in 125’s.
He of course stepped up to 250’s with HRC and after three world titles in those classes stepped into the factory MotoGP team where he was rookie of the year and been strong for so many years.
He is a great guy and been very good for the sport and it would be a shame to not see his name in the MotoGP field, but that’s my feeling.
KEVIN MAGEE
It’s a really hard one to call given how top riders are signing deals so, so early in the season in recent years. Everybody including Dani, I guess, thought his HRC contract would just roll over, not run out.
He turns 33 on September 29, so Dani’s certainly not too old to continue in MotoGP.
His only decent chance seems to be the Petronas/Yamaha team. If that comes off, it would be great for three reasons. One, MotoGP keeps another great rider on the grid — probably its unluckiest rider when you look at some of the ways he has been injured in recent years.
Two, Yamaha gains a brilliant test rider. That’s the reason he was retained by HRC since Marc Marquez’s arrival, as Marc wasn’t/isn’t that good a test rider. Now, Cal Crutchlow is the best MotoGP test rider — just ask him! Test teams with top riders seem to be coming to the fore more recently. Look at Casey Stoner at Honda and now Ducati.
The third reason? Sooner or later, Yamaha is going to need a replacement for Valentino Rossi in the factory squad. They could do far worse than someone of Dani’s calibre for his final few years in the championship.
Outside of MotoGP, Pedrosa would be ideal on the new MotoE bike given he’s small and light. He would also be a great face for that new championship when it starts next year, and it would keep him in the paddock — great news for Dorna and his fans.
Could he also complete the circle and foster young riders in the various Talent Cups that are springing up, like his mentor Alberto Puig did after his leg injury & retirement from racing?
As for what I think he will do or should do, he doesn’t have many/any options. All I know is that this presser should be a lot more interesting than his last one!
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