After 18 years racing for Honda in the World Championship, Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa was left without a ride after Honda Racing Corporation decided not to renew contract with him and sign Jorge Lorenzo to partner Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda team.
Pedrosa still had the chance to continue racing in MotoGP, and after he announced his exit from Honda, many believed that the 125 and 250 cc champion would be joining Yamaha’s satellite team, which will probably be run by Marc VDS who currently partners with Honda.
There was also the chance Dani Pedrosa would make the switch to World Superbike racing, a move that so many MotoGP riders did already, but Pedrosa didn’t show great interest in racing production based bikes.
So, and according to many sources on the MotoGP paddock, Dani Pedrosa has decided he will retire from racing at the end of the season.
He will be 33 years old by the end of the 2018 MotoGP season, and if he races all the Grand Prix’s until the end of the year, he will retire having raced in a total of 296 races in the World Championship.
Dorna, who runs the World Championship, led by Carmelo Ezpeleta, will likely find a role for Dani Pedrosa to stay linked with MotoGP, much in the same way they’ve already done it with Loris Capirossi or Franco Uncini.
Honda will also probably try to keep Pedrosa within the Japanese brand, probably helping the HRC to find new talents or as an ambassador to Honda.
The official announcement of Dani Pedrosa’s retirement will be made during the Barcelona race, to be held in a week’s time.
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Hi Dani--you made the Moto Gp's a fun event--love your style--been a fan of your's for 18 yrs-- love to have a cool one & do some bench racing with you.
as a fan Richard Stidham
Onalaska, Washington
Hi Dani,
I have followed your progress for many years and am a great fan of your riding style, speed and cool approach, when so many of your competitors are tripping over their own egos! I hope the report of your retirement is no more than rumour and that you will race MotoGp at least for 2019/20.
Thank you for all of the excitement and good luck with whatever comes next!
Glyn of Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England, UK