MotoGP – Pedrosa changes number and is close to returning

An unusual choice: racing with #2, especially in the top class of motorcycling, is a more unique than rare case these days. Daniel Pedrosa doesn't think so, who less than a month before the start of the championship decided to move from the "lucky" #26 to #2, a table assigned by the Federation following the second place in the championship achieved last year. Pedrosa will thus be the only one to follow the original tradition of assigning race numbers, taking up a philosophy already adopted in 125, where he raced with the #3 after third place in 2002, subsequently winning the championship. Pedrosa, for the record, also raced with the #1 in 2005 following the title won on his debut in the 250cc, leaving his own #26 aside for a season which, it must be said, had been "officially assigned" by Alberto Puig in the Telefonica Movistar Junior Team (as well as 24th to Elias, 25th to Olive and 27th to... Casey Stoner!).

The last top class riders to race with the #2 were Max Biaggi (in 1999) and Kenny Roberts Jr, who won his first and only world title with this plate. Daniel Pedrosa will show his new number in Jerez de la Frontera, but for the moment the Repsol press office has seen fit to create a photomontage that we show you at the top left.

Still talking about the upcoming IRTA tests in Andalusia, the latest news is comforting: the Catalan is close to returning to the track. This was revealed by MotoGP.com, which confirms what was anticipated from us previously: the check-up visit at Doctor Xavier Mir's clinic gave positive sensations, so much so that Alberto Puig made it known that his pupil will be there in Jerez. So good, for him, for the championship, for Honda, which still has to choose the engine with which to face this season...

Alessio Piana