KTM Factory Racing test rider Dani Pedrosa will return to the 2023 MotoGP World Championship grid later in the year with a wild-card outing at the San Marino MotoGP.

It will be the Spaniard’s second MotoGP appearance of the season and his third since joining KTM’s testing roster in 2019.

His Misano outing, which is dictated by being present at the Adriatic circuit for the post-GP one-day test that follows the event, comes after he stole the headlines with a starring role during the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez earlier this year.

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A four-time GP race winner around the Andalucian circuit - which even bears a corner named after him - during the course of his 18 years competing on the GP World Championship stage, Pedrosa topped a practice session before going on to qualify sixth. He’d go on to finish the Sprint and Main races sixth and seventh respectively.

It will be his first time competing at Misano since his final season of MotoGP in 2018, a venue he has previously won twice at in the premier class.

Joining Brad Binder and Jack Miller in the KTM Factory team, Pedrosa has been credited as the pivotal factor in turning the Austrian team’s fortunes around and transforming it into the front-running contender it is today.