At the end of April, the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix will take place and it is possible that Dani Pedrosa will once again be a wildcard for Red Bull KTM. For now, nothing is confirmed yet, but this scenario already creates expectations after the good performances that the “Little Samurai” had in his two wildcards in 2023.
Carlos Checa was asked by the website Motosan.es if this could happen again, to which he replied: ‘It depends on the training he does and the preparation he can make to face the others. It is clear that if you have two or three tests and the other riders, your opponents, could not train, that also compensates a lot, right? He and KTM also choose the tracks they like the most, do a lot of tests there and this then gives, I will not say an advantage. But in the end, you arrive at a circuit with everything done‘.
The former rider then highlighted Pedrosa’s riding style: ‘Pedrosa is also a rider with a special characteristic due to his physique, his way of riding. We have seen it, right? When he rides, it seems like he makes half the effort and half the distance. It is very effective, actually. Pedrosa’s riding style was one of the most efficient I have seen‘.
On the other hand, Checa recalled Pedrosa’s fondness and knowledge of the Jerez circuit: ‘I think that, as it is evident, Jerez is a track that he loves, he knows the tricks very well, he knows very well how to set up the bike to extract the maximum potential. If in addition he can do several tests before the race, he can be a very competitive rider‘.
Still, the current TV commentator has some doubts about what Pedrosa can really do in a very competitive field: ‘As for the race, I don’t know, because there are very aggressive riders fighting hard. I believe it’s not intelligent for him to take unnecessary risks, but it’s clear that I think he will be up there at the front and at a very high level‘.
