Dani Pedrosa: Career highlights and biography

Date of birth: September 29th 1985
Place of birth: Castellar del Vallés (Barcelona)
Age: 20 years ago

1997

3rd Spanish Minibike Championship

1998

Spanish Minibike Champion

1999

8th Movistar Activa Joven Cup Trophy (Honda RS 125)

2000

4th Spanish 125 GP Championship (Honda RS 125)

2001

8th 125 GP World Championship (Honda RS 125)

2002

3º Campeonato del Mundo 125cc. (Honda RS 125)

2003

125cc World Champion (Honda RS 125)

2004

250cc World Champion (Honda RSW 250)

2005

250cc World Champion (Honda RSW 250)

2006

5thmundial de MotoGP (Honda RC 211V)  

The first time Daniel Pedrosa got on a motorbike was at the age of four and his machine, a motocross Italjet 50, had side-wheels.

At the age of six, Dani began racing on minibikes. His first pocket bike was a miniature copy of a street Kawasaki. Other bikes followed, circuits and races with friends, always for fun and not even imagining what was yet to come.

It was in 1996 when the ten-year-old Dani entered the Spanish Minibike Championship. Dani began to race on kart circuits all over Spain, always joined by his parents and with the bike in the car trunk. They were also joined by Danis little brother, Eric, 5 years younger than Dani, who is taking his first steps in motorbike riding as well.

That same year, Dani finished his first race in sixth position, due to a problem with the exhaust pipe of his bike. With the second race came his first podium finish. He liked the experience and decided to enter the same Championship the next year, after finishing second overall in his first season. But he had bad luck and a few days before the 1997 season Dani got chicken pox.

The result was that he wasnt even able to put on the helmet. It was the beginning of the season and given the problem, Pedrosa finished that season eight points behind the leader, in the third overall position. Although Pedrosa managed to get the title in 1998 he still enjoyed racing as a mere hobby.

The Aprilia 50 Cup and the Open RACC were popular promotion cups in those days and Pedrosa considered the possibility to enter one of them. But due to the lack of means and support and despite his good results, Dani decided to leave motorbikes aside and to change over to mountain bikes. When he was just about to get the licence to start racing on bicycles, the family heard from a friend that the Movistar Activa Cup, a promotion cup with competition bikes, was being organised. The change from minibikes to racing bikes was huge and Dani was still young, but in early 1999 they decided to send an entry form to take part in the trials that would be held at the Jarama circuit in Madrid.

The weekend before the trials Pedrosa learned to ride a bike with a gearbox on an industrial area nearby his home with a borrowed bike. It was his first time on a circuit and he was not only nervous; the bike was so high that his feet didnt reach the floor.

Despite everything, the 13-year-old passed the trials and took part in the Movistar Activa Cup that year finishing in a meritorious eighth position. Of the twenty-five riders taking part in the Cup that year, only three were able to become part of Alberto Puigs team, who, given Pedrosa’s huge potential, included him among the chosen, with Joan Olivé and Raúl Jara.  In 2000, Dani took part in the Spanish Championship with the Movistar Junior Team. He finished four of the six races, but took four poles, finishing fourth overall, behind Joan Olivé, Raúl Jara and Toni Elias. It was then when Alberto Puig told him that he was going to take part in the 125cc Motorcycle World Championship. Pedrosa, who was already 14 couldnt believe it; his dream was coming true. In the first race held in Suzuka, he was among the last riders of the grid and he had never seen so many riders racing together and especially in such a competitive class.

He still remembers that he got scared in the first corner, something that never happened again 2001 was a learning year for Dani Pedrosa, but even though he managed to take two podiums finishes, a third place in Valencia and another in Motegi. He took the start among the leading riders in several races, and despite having little experience; he rode side by side with well-known riders such as Toni Elias, Manuel Poggiali or Youichi Ui. He finished eighth overall in the Championship.

His final third position in the 2002 World Championship, where he had been a title candidate together with Manuel Poggiali or Arnaud Vincent, was the evidence of his tremendous potential. This fact was confirmed by the nine podium finishes and six pole positions he took that year, as well as by his three victories in Assen, Motegi and Valencia. Although he had to settle for the third place, he was considered the most spectacular and combative rider of the class. Dani Pedrosa faced his third season in the 125cc World Championship with serenity, determination and with the aim of clinching the title. During the season, he showed a maturity that would rather be normal for a veteran rider but not for an 18-year-old and he got the reputation of one of the most talented young riders of the sport. He became 125cc World Champion in Malaysia, with two GPS left for the end of the season, after a total of five victories and six podium finishes.

Only one week later, misfortune hit the young rider who suffered a hair-rising accident during the practice session of the Australian GP, where he broke both ankles. In 2004, after a hard recovery period and under the protection of Alberto Puig, his mentor and right-hand man, the young rider decided to make the jump to the 250cc class.

From the beginning, he considered the season as a season of learning and adapting to the class and not with the aim of fighting for the title. But he surprised everybody right from the first tests of the season. Hard work and dedication, both from the rider himself and the whole team, soon bore fruit. He took the victory of the first race in South Africa after a spectacular fight with De Puniet. He took the class leadership after the Brazilian Grand Prix and he stayed there until the end of the season. He became 250cc World Champion in Australia, in his rookie season in the class, at the age of 19, the youngest in history, fifteen years after Sito Pons. In addition to the seven victories, it was his incredible regularity throughout the year that made him worth the title. The only races he didnt finish on the podium were Jerez, after crashing under heavy rain and in Estoril and Phillip Island where he finished fourth.

With more experience and maturity, Dani Pedrosa faced his second season in the 250cc as the big favourite. The considerable competition he had to face, the adverse weather conditions at the beginning of the season and the shoulder injury he suffered during the practice sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix, turned 2005 into a difficult year for the Repsol rider.

Eventually, 51 points were enough to let Alberto Puigs pupil win his third sceptre on the Australian circuit of Phillip Island, two races before the end of the 2005 season. In the first Grand Prix of the season, staged in Jerez, the reigning World Champion played his role and took his first victory on the Andalusian track. Not a real friend of wet races, Pedrosa had to overcome his fears in 2005, because the weather conditions were bad on several occasions. In Donington and under an intense rain shower, he took a meritorious fourth place, his best result so far on a wet track. The young Repsol rider led the overall standings almost from start to end, and he only left the top spot on the sheets during one Grand Prix, after the flood in Shanghai. Bit by bit, Dani went on increasing his advantage, first over Dovizioso and then over Stoner, having a maximum advantage of 63 points before the Japanese Grand Prix.

Motegi was a point of inflection for Dani Pedrosa. Three crashes during the practice sessions undermined both his physical and moral condition. Despite hurting his right shoulder and starting the race with hardly any time to set-up his Honda, his skill and conviction took him to cross the finish line behind the winner of the race, his team-mate Aoyama. He arrived in Malaysia with hardly any time to recover, but he warned his rivals already during the practice. He took the second place on the starting grid but crashed in the second lap after loosing the front end of his bike.

First no-score for Dani, something that Stoner, winner of the Malaysian Grand Prix made good use of to close the gap in the overall standings. Still convalescent, Pedrosa worked hard in Qatar and managed to take the fourth place, despite suffering evident problems with his engine. Australia meant the first match ball for Dani, and the Repsol rider didnt want to loose his first chance. After a good start, Dani knew how to read the race perfectly well.

While Stoner crashed in the fourth lap, Pedrosa put himself behind Porto, escaping together with the Argentinean rider on his way to the seventh victory of the season. Nothing but the victory was good to become world champion and Dani overtook the Argentinean rider on the finish line, scoring the 25 points he needed to take his second World Championship title in the 250cc class with two races left for the end of the championship.

Titanium, that is how one of his big admirers, Valentino Rossi, called him for being light and resistant, in addition to being the rider with the highest quality in the paddock. At present Daniel Pedrosa lives with his parents in Castellar del Vallés, a town close to Sabadell, in the province of Barcelona. Among his hobbies are bicycle riding, something he still enjoys a lot, as well as supermotard, motocross or trial.

Outside the world of sports he enjoys going to the movies or spending time with friends. Sometimes he joins them at the disco, but he prefers to amuse himself playing computer games, because, as Dani says those with motorbikes and cars are very realistic, the behaviour of the bike is very similar to that of a real one. A curious fact: Dani learned the circuits on which he races now by heart watching videotapes of 500cc races with Rainey or Lawson.

However, his favourite rider has always been Mick Doohan. In 2006, his first MotoGP season, he has broken down all forecasts, suprising everybody with an extraordinary and quick adaptation to the class, allowing him to finish the championship fifth overall after taking two victories and six podiums, which have awarded him the ‘Rookie of the Season’ title.