Dani Pedrosa spent his entire career as a main rider in MotoGP with Repsol Honda, starting in 2006 and ending his tenure in 2018 – afterwards becoming a test rider for Red Bull KTM.
However, during those 12 years, the Spanish rider was targeted by other manufacturers. Although a move never materialized, there was a possibility… and it was to replace his lifelong rival, Jorge Lorenzo.
In a «battle» of questions and answers between the two Spaniards on the podcast Dura la Vita, Lorenzo asked Pedrosa about the closest he ever came to changing teams in MotoGP. In his response, the “Little Samurai” revealed:
– I was very close to signing with Yamaha for the year 2017 – that is, when you left Yamaha and joined Ducati, that year there was an attempt between me and [Maverick] Viñales. I, since we were rivals, always wanted to have your bike because of the qualities it had and wanted to see myself on that bike once. And that was the closest I came.