Dani Pedrosa Will Miss Spanish GP, Aims for Le Mans

Dani Pedrosa will not be racing at the Jerez round of MotoGP. Despite the optimism displayed by Repsol Honda team principal Livio Suppo earlier this week, a test ride on a supermoto bike showed that Pedrosa’s arm is not recovered sufficiently for him to be able to ride.

The Spaniard announced the news on his blog on the Repsol website. He wrote there that he had ridden a supermoto bike to test his arm, and that though the riding had gone well, it gave problems after riding, Pedrosa describing it as “not 100%”.

Having already missed two races, Pedrosa believes it is better to miss this race as well, and try to come back fully fit at Le Mans, two weeks after Jerez. The priority is to make a full recovery and come back competitive for the rest of the season, rather than trying to race at any cost, and risk creating a bigger problem.

The Jerez race was always going to be a big ask. The recovery period for the surgery Pedrosa had – a fasciectomy of the right arm, to cure arm pump – was estimated at five weeks, and Jerez comes just a week too early.

With Pedrosa out, that leaves Hiroshi Aoyama to take his place in the Repsol Honda team again this weekend.

At the moment, Marc Marquez is intending to ride, but with a shattered and plated proximal phalanx in his left little finger, riding will be painful. The plan is for Marquez to assess his fitness on Friday, and make a decision from there.

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.