Daniel Pedrosa Ramal (born 29 September 1985) is a Spanish former Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He won three Grand Prix world championship titles: in the 125cc class in 2003, the 250cc class in 2004, and the 250cc class in 2005. He is the youngest champion of all time in the intermediate (250cc/Moto2) class.
In 2006, Pedrosa moved into the MotoGP class to ride for Repsol Honda, where he would remain for the next thirteen years. He took 31 race wins and 112 podiums during this time, and finished as championship runner-up in 2007, 2010 and 2012. He is often cited as the best rider to never win a MotoGP championship. He retired from regular competition at the end of the 2018 season.Pedrosa announces retirement motogp.com, 12 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018 In 2019, the former Curva Dry Sac, a corner at the Spanish Circuito de Jerez, was renamed Curva Dani Pedrosa (English: Dani Pedrosa Corner) in his honour.
Pedrosa currently works as a test and development rider for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. In 2021, he raced for KTM as a wildcard rider in Austria at the Styrian Grand Prix, and finished tenth. He raced again in 2023 at Jerez, where he placed seventh in the main race and sixth in the sprint, and in Misano, where he finished fourth in both races. He has also dabbled in car racing: he competed in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe in 2022, driving for the FFF Racing Team.
Career
Early career Born in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain, Pedrosa started riding bikes at the early age of four, when he got his first motorcycle, an Italjet 50, which had side-wheels. His first racing bike was a minibike replica of a Kawasaki, which he got at the age of six and which he used to race with his friends. Pedrosa experienced real racing at the age of nine when he entered the Spanish Minibike Championship and ended his debut season in second place, scoring his first podium finish in the second race of the season. The next year, Pedrosa entered the same championship, but health problems prevented him from improving his results, and he ended that season in third position.
125cc World Championship In 2001, Pedrosa made his World Championship debut in the 125cc class after being selected from the Movistar Activa Cup, a series designed to promote fresh racing talent in Spain, back in 1999. Under the guidance of Alberto Puig, Pedrosa scored two podium finishes in the first season and won his first race the following year, when he finished third in the championship. In 2003, he won five races and won the championship with two rounds remaining, scoring 223 points. In his first championship-winning year, Pedrosa scored five victories and six podium finishes. A week after winning the championship, eighteen-year-old Pedrosa broke both of his ankles in a crash during practice at Phillip Island, ending his season.
250cc World Championship After winning the 125cc Championship, Pedrosa moved up to the 250cc class in 2004 without a proper test on the new bike because his ankles were healing during the off-season. Going into the season unprepared, Pedrosa won the first race in South Africa and went on to clinch the 250cc World Championship title, including rookie of the year honours. In his first season in the 250cc class, Pedrosa scored seven victories and 13 podium finishes. Pedrosa decided to stay for one more season in the 250cc class, and he won another title, once again with two races remaining in the championship. In 2005, Pedrosa won eight races and scored 14 podium finishes, despite a shoulder injury he sustained in a practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.
MotoGP World Championship
2006 Pedrosa made the move to 990cc MotoGP bikes in , riding for Repsol Honda. Critics said that Pedrosa's tiny stature was not strong enough to handle a big, heavy MotoGP bike and successfully race in the premier class. Proving critics wrong, he finished second in the opening round at Jerez on 26 March 2006. At his fourth ever MotoGP appearance, on 14 May 2006, during the Chinese Grand Prix, he won his first race. This win made him the equal second youngest winner (tied with Norick Abe) in the premier class at the time, behind Freddie Spencer. He won his second MotoGP race at Donington Park and became a strong candidate for the MotoGP Championship. It was a memorable victory for Pedrosa, who shared the podium for the first time with Valentino Rossi in second place. He also took two pole positions in the first half of the season. Until the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, Pedrosa was second in the Championship only behind his more experienced teammate Nicky Hayden. However, he fell heavily during free practice and suffered a severe gash to the knee, which practically rendered him immobile. Pedrosa qualified fifth on the grid in that race after heavy rain cancelled the qualifying session. He managed to finish third in the race, behind Rossi and Ducati rider Loris Capirossi.
However, in the next races, Pedrosa's form dropped and he struggled with the bike, moving him down to 5th place in the MotoGP standings. His poor performance continued at Estoril. After a promising start, he briefly ran second before being passed by Colin Edwards and then championship leader and teammate Hayden. On lap 5, he and Hayden were involved in a crash. Pedrosa made a mistake whilst trying to overtake Hayden, slid and crashed out of the race, taking out Hayden on the way. This crash ended his slim chances of winning the championship and also caused Hayden to lose his lead in the championship standings, as Rossi managed to finish second. However, two weeks later, Hayden recovered to win the championship while Pedrosa managed to finish in fourth place. This result clinched his fifth place in overall standings in his debut season, thus taking the title as Rookie of the Year, beating former 250cc rival Casey Stoner. At the end of season three-day test of 2006 at Jerez, Pedrosa put his 800 cc RC212V at the top of the timesheets (on qualifying tyres) edging out Rossi, who had been fastest on the first two days, by 0.214 seconds.
2007
Pedrosa continued to race with Honda in on their Honda RC212V, the new 800 cc bike. The machine had problems, and Pedrosa was taken out of races by Olivier Jacque and by Randy de Puniet, but he finished the season in second place behind Stoner and ahead of Rossi. He signed a two-year contract with Repsol Honda for 2008 and 2009.
2008 In , Pedrosa's problems with the RC212V continued when he was injured in the pre-season and missed developmental testing, but started the season well by scoring a podium at the first round. While leading the race and the standings in the German round, he crashed and was injured, keeping him from racing in the following two rounds. Michelin's performance in MotoGP deteriorated, resulting in Pedrosa switching to Bridgestone at the Indianapolis round. He finished third in the standings in 2008.
2009 As in 2008, Pedrosa crashed in the pre-season and injured himself, keeping him from testing the machine before the start of the season. He placed 11th in the first round, but recovered his fitness in the following rounds. At the fifth round, he injured himself again in practice and then fell during the race, putting him 33 points behind the leader.
2010
For 2010, Pedrosa reverted to number 26—a number he used when he first entered MotoGP—from number 2 in 2008 and number 3 in 2009. He took this decision to please his fans who had asked him to return to the number he had always used. Pedrosa won four races in 2010 and finished second in the championship standings behind Jorge Lorenzo.
2011
Pedrosa remained with an expanded three-rider Repsol Honda team in , partnering Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner. Pedrosa took podium placings in the opening three races of the season, culminating in a victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix in May. On lap 18 of the following race in France, Pedrosa was involved in an incident with Gresini Racing's Marco Simoncelli while fighting over second place in the race; Simoncelli passed Pedrosa on the outside line into the Chemin aux Boeufs, but pulled in front of Pedrosa and as a result, Pedrosa clipped Simoncelli's rear wheel and fell to the ground. Simoncelli was given a ride-through penalty, while the fall left Pedrosa with a broken collarbone, which ruled him out until July's Italian Grand Prix, where he finished in eighth place.
Pedrosa claimed his second victory of the season at the German Grand Prix, after taking advantage of an error by Lorenzo with nine laps left in the race. He finished third at Laguna Seca the following weekend, before taking his first pole position of the season at the Czech Grand Prix. He crashed out during the race, but finished the next three races in second place, before winning his third race of the season – and the 400th race win by a Spanish rider – in Japan, where his title chances in 2010 had ended; and moved within one point of teammate Dovizioso for third place in the championship. Dovizioso finished ahead of Pedrosa in both Australia and Valencia, while the Malaysian race, in which Pedrosa had qualified on pole for, was cancelled due to the death of Simoncelli in the first attempt to run the race.
2012 Pedrosa remained with Repsol Honda into the season, again partnering Stoner in a reduced two-bike effort. Pedrosa finished six of the first seven races on the podium, with a best result of second on three occasions. He won his first race of the season at the German Grand Prix, winning at the Sachsenring for the third year in succession; Pedrosa and Stoner had been running one-two in the race, before Stoner crashed on the final lap. At the Italian Grand Prix, it was announced that Pedrosa had signed a two-year contract extension with the Repsol Honda team from onwards, and would be partnered by Moto2 front-runner Marc Márquez. Pedrosa finished that weekend's race second, before a third place at the United States Grand Prix. Following the summer break, Pedrosa scored his second victory of the season at Indianapolis, winning from pole position as well as setting a lap record during the race. He followed that victory up with another at Brno, prevailing after a final-lap battle with main title rival Jorge Lorenzo.
At Misano, Pedrosa qualified on pole for the race, which was then delayed after Karel Abraham's Ducati stalled just before the start, forcing the riders to complete a second parade lap. Pedrosa's front tyre warmer became stuck just before his bike was restarted; the bike was removed from the grid – to be replaced by the back-up bike – but the tyre warmer was removed at the last moment and the bike was restored to the grid. However, Pedrosa had to start the race from the back, due to a rules infraction relating to the start procedure. He had managed to make his way into the top ten on the opening lap before he was taken out by Héctor Barberá, losing ground to Lorenzo, who won the race. In the Aragon Grand Prix, Pedrosa qualified second but took the victory, after passing Lorenzo on lap seven; the result allowed Pedrosa to close the championship gap to 33 points. In the end, Pedrosa failed to become champion after his DNF in Australia. He finished the 2012 season as runner-up to Lorenzo with 332 points, the highest number of points ever gained without taking the title at the time.
2013 Pedrosa remained with Repsol Honda into the season partnering new teammate Marc Márquez. He won races in Spain, France, and Malaysia but missed the race in Germany, due to injury. He also failed to finish in Aragon after contact with Márquez. He obtained 300 points for the season, and finished in third place in the championship, behind Jorge Lorenzo and Márquez, who won the championship.
2014