Dani Pedrosa to leave Honda after 18 years

Madrid, June 5 (IANS) Honda Racing Corp on Tuesday announced the departure of Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa at the end of the 2018 season, after 18 years of racing in three classes of the MotoGP World Championship.

Since beginning with team Repsol Honda in 2006, the 32-year-old Pedrosa has achieved 31 victories and was a three-time MotoGP Championship runner up, but has not made the podium in any of the six races so far this season, reports Efe.

"I want to thank HRC for all these years of great success. I have grown not only as a rider but also as a person with them. I will always have HRC in my memories and in my heart. In life we all need new challenges and I feel it's time for a change," Pedrosa said in a statement on the team's website.

HRC President Yoshishige Nomura added: "Today is a sad day for me. On behalf of HRC, I want to thank Dani for all his hard and successful work, and to express our gratitude for these two decades together."

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