KTM continues to step up their game in MotoGP. The Austrian manufacturer announced today that they have agreed to a two-year deal with Dani Pedrosa as a test rider for the MotoGP lineup for 2019-2020.

Pedrosa, a three times world champion and 13-year premier class veteran, announced his retirement from racing in July at 33 years of age.

The Catalan rider spent the better part of his career with Honda (since 2006) and racked up over 30 MotoGP wins (more than 50 in all classes), three world titles and has more than 110 MotoGP podium appearances. He will work alongside Mika Kallio developing the KTM RC16 for what will be the motorcycle’s third year of Grand Prix competition.

Pit Beirer (Motorsports Director KTM Group): “To have a rider of Dani’s skill and experience as part of our MotoGP project is another strong sign that we are moving in the right direction and we are still pushing as hard as we can. We have seen how competitive MotoGP is this year and how fractions of a second can sometimes hide real progress and valuable lessons. We hope – and we are very excited – that Dani’s input alongside Mika Kallio and feeding into the two teams we’ll have on the grid next year will really help to close the gap even further. I think we can feel very optimistic about our possibilities for the upcoming seasons. I’d like to thank the whole crew at the factory, all the strong effort at the races and for all those testing miles as we come close to the end of our second year. Also to Dani: it is great that he believes and trusts in us and what we are doing.” 

Mike Leitner (Team Manager MotoGP): “I’m super-happy that we could reach this agreement with Dani. Thanks to all his years and success in MotoGP I believe he will help our project in a big way and in developing the bike. Dani is a three time world champion and three time runner-up in this category and I know him well from the time working together. He is still very competitive and this can only benefit our MotoGP effort.”