Pedrosa renews Honda contract

The Dani Pedrosa 'will he or won't he got to Yamaha' question has now been settled, with the diminutive Spaniard choosing to remain a part of the Repsol Honda factory MotoGP team.

The 30-year-old has renewed his contract until the end of 2018, continuing a world championship career that has been spent entirely with Honda. At Mugello this weekend, Pedrosa will be riding in his 250th GP race.

“I’m very happy to be able to announce my renewal with the Repsol Honda team," said Pedrosa. "I’m very grateful to Honda for the trust they’ve shown in renewing with me for an additional two years.

"I think it’s best for me to continue with the company I was with at my very first race. I’m happy that the negotiations have been quick, and now I can just focus on racing. I want to give 100 percent this weekend at the Italian GP.”

With Pedrosa remaining at Honda, that still leaves a vacant seat at Movistar Yamaha after the defection of Jorge Lorenzo to Ducati. Current Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales now appears to be the hot favourite — and if that comes to fruition it would in turn leave a vacancy at Suzuki.

The full factory seat machinations should play out over the next couple of weeks.

Pedrosa is a 125cc and double 250cc world champion, and he entered MotoGP with Repsol Honda in 2006 and has finished title runner-up on three occasions (2007, 2010, 2012) and third an additional three times (2008, 2009, 2013). He has achieved more podium finishes for the Honda factory than any other rider, with a total of 142, including 51 victories, just three fewer than Mick Doohan’s Honda record.

Pedrosa heads to this weekend’s Italian GP sitting fourth in the 2016 standings behind Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi.