Ex-MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa to make car racing debut in 2022

Pedrosa called time on his storied MotoGP career at the end of the 2018 season, having made his debut in the premier class in 2006.  

A Honda rider for all of his grand prix career, winning a 125cc title and two 250cc titles from 2003-2005, Pedrosa was three-times a championship runner-up in MotoGP and won 31 races in the top class.  

Following his retirement, Pedrosa took on a role as KTM’s official test rider, which he continues to do today.  

But the Spaniard will branch out in 2022 to compete in a three-round campaign in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe in a third car entered by FFF Racing.  

Pedrosa will share the team’s Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 with experienced sportscar driver Antonin Borga at Imola, Misano and the Algarve International Circuit.  

“I'm very happy to start this new adventure with Lamborghini and the FFF Racing Team,” Pedrosa said.  

“It's my first experience on the four wheels and, although I still have a lot to learn, I feel very excited.

“I can't wait to learn all the tricks of the trade and start at my best.  

“The hope is obviously to have fun!” 

Pedrosa made a one-off MotoGP outing as a wildcard for KTM at the Styrian Grand Prix last year, in which he finished 10th having been involved in a fiery crash with Aprilia's Lorenzo Savadori which brought out a red flag. 

FFF Racing team boss Giorgio Ferro added that Pedrosa will be aided by ex-Formula 1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi as driver coach.  

“We are very happy that Dani has decided to start his new career on four wheels with our team and with Lamborghini,” Ferro said. 

“His professional and competitive approach will surely allow him to face this new challenge in the best possible way, supported by the expert Antonin and assisted by Vitantonio Liuzzi's advice as coach.  

#66 Huracan Super Trofeo Evo, Micanek Motorsport ACCR: Josef Zaruba, Jakub Knoll

Photo by: Alex Galli

“It will be great to share, together with our partners, this new chapter of his sporting life.  

“We welcome Dani and Antonin in the Orange1 FFF Racing family, sure that we will live together an amazing season.” 

Pedrosa’s debut in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo coincides with former MotoGP rival Valentino Rossi’s maiden GT World Challenge Europe race at Imola.  

Nine-time motorcycle grand prix world champion Rossi will compete full-time in GTWCE with Audi and WRT, as he embarks on his long-awaited car racing career following the end of his glittering tenure in MotoGP at the end of 2021.  

Pedrosa also tested a 2012-spec Red Bull Formula 1 car in Austrian back in 2018 alongside team-mate Marc Marquez. Both Rossi and Lorenzo also have experience of F1 machinery.

He joins a list of other fellow MotoGP rivals to have outings in GT racing, with ex-Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso contesting the Lamborghini Trofeo world finals in Valencia in 2016 – winning the second race of the event in the Pro-Am class.  

Dovizioso also contested the 2019 round of the DTM at Misano with WRT, finishing 12th and 15th in both races.

Jorge Lorenzo has also driven a Kessel Racing-run Ferrari in the Gulf 12 Hours at Abu Dhabi in 2016, with Rossi a regular at the event ahead of his GT racing switch this year.