Dani Pedrosa absent from Jerez test

New Honda test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi will replace Dani Pedrosa at this weekend’s final MotoGP winter test session in Jerez.

The Spaniard is still recovering from left arm and leg injuries suffered during a crash at the night test session in Qatar earlier this month.

Pedrosa broke his left arm and also needed a skin graft on his left leg, though he remains confident that he can be fit to start the new season under Qatar’s floodlights on April 12.

Unable to ride in Jerez this weekend though, his Repsol Honda RC212V will be ridden by Japanese rider Akiyoshi.

Akiyoshi is a former test and development rider for Suzuki‘s GSV-R MotoGP project and he scored a 13th place finish the 2006 Japanese GP.