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2021 MotoGP World Championship
Round 10, Styrian Grand Prix
Sunday 8 August 2021
Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria
MotoGP legend Dani Pedrosa will come out of retirement to make a wildcard appearance for the Red Bull KTM team at the upcoming
Styrian Grand Prix, set for the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on the afternoon of Sunday 8 August 2021.
At what will be KTM’s home event, Pedrosa – who retired from racing at the end of 2018 before joining the Austrian team as a test and development rider the following year – will return to competitive racing alongside teammates Brad Binder of South Africa and Portuguese Miguel Oliveira.
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"It’s been super-interesting to be part of this project from the beginning with KTM in MotoGP and being able to share my experience with them,” said the 35-year-old Spaniard, who claimed 31 premier class victories in his career.
"Step-by-step we did the best we could and now it’s interesting again to go into a race because it gives you a different perspective compared to a normal test. It has been a long time since my last race and, of course, the mentality for a GP is very different to a test.”
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The KTM bike has been ridden to one MotoGP victory this season, with Oliveira claiming the chequered flag at the Catalan GP in Barcelona in June.
Red Bull KTM race manager Mike Leitner is keen to see how Pedrosa performs: "It will be curious to see Dani in MotoGP again. He has been away from racing for quite a long time but it will be valuable to have him in garage at Red Bull Ring to analyse the strong and not-so-strong parts of our KTM RC16 package in GP conditions and it will give him a good indication for his testing work.
"Dani has had a big influence in our MotoGP project thanks to all of his experience. The company was working and pushing hard to follow his requests, along with Mika’s [Kallio]. Dani was a good reference as he retired at the end of 2018 while still at the top of the sport and we can see some of his influence in the current success of the KTM RC16.”
2021 MotoGP Riders’ Championship standings, top five
1 – Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), 156 points
2 – Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati), 122
3 – Francesco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati), 109
4 – Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar), 101
5 – Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati), 100
2021 MotoGP Teams’ Championship standings, top five
1 – Monster Energy Yamaha, 251 points
2 – Lenovo Ducati, 209
3 – Pramac Ducati, 149
4 – Red Bull KTM, 145
5 – Suzuki Ecstar, 134
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