Pedrosa made his MotoGP debut with Honda in 2006 and drove his entire career in the premier class with the Japanese brand, winning 36 races and finishing second three times in the overall standings.
The two-time 250cc world champion and one-time 125cc title winner retired from MotoGP at the end of the 2018 season and became KTM’s official test rider.
Pedrosa’s work as a test rider helped put KTM at the top of the grid in MotoGP and his efforts bore fruit last year.
Brad Binder took KTM’s first MotoGP win at the Czech Grand Prix in 2020 just three races in his rookie season before Miguel Oliveira added a second win at the Styrian GP.
Dani Pedrosa, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Oliveira sealed KTM’s third win at the season finale in Portugal and his fourth win at this year’s Catalonian GP.
KTM has yet to confirm Pedrosa’s wildcard in Misano, but has been pointing to it for some time.
In addition to Pedrosa, two other wildcards will start the San Marino GP, with Honda bringing its test driver Stefan Bradl to the start and Ducati giving Michele Pirro a trip on home soil.
Wildcards have been reinstated for the 2021 season after being abolished in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
KTM’s 2021 season has been a mixed affair, with Oliveira and teammate Brad Binder struggling in the early races – the problems are largely due to the softer front tire allocation that Michelin brought with them for 2021.
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But a new chassis introduced for the Italian GP at Mugello that offered better cornering performance and improved the front-end problems of the RC16, with Oliveira – who failed to get into the top 10 for the first five laps – at Mugello Finished second.
Oliveira won in Barcelona and was second again the last time in Germany, while Binder recovered from 13th and achieved his best result of the season in fourth.
Both Binder and Oliveira will remain on the KTM factory team in 2022, with the former recently signing a new three-year deal to keep him with the brand until 2024.
At Tech3, Moto2 Championship Leader Remy Gardner will be promoted while second place is still up for grabs.
Gardner’s Moto2 teammate Raul Fernandez had been linked, but KTM Motorsport boss Pit Beirer told Autosport last week that the Spaniard had expressed a desire to stay in Moto2 for another season.