No replacement for Dani Pedrosa at Silverstone

Honda has scrapped plans to draft Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama into its factory MotoGP squad as injury cover for Dani Pedrosa at this weekend’s Silverstone race.

Pedrosa has withdrawn from the British Grand Prix while he recovers from the broken right collarbone he suffered in a collision with Marco Simoncelli in Le Mans last month.

It was widely expected that HRC would call on Aoyama to move to the Repsol-backed factory team with Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso while test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi was to partner Marco Simoncelli in the Gresini squad.

MCN saw HRC bosses Shuhei Nakamoto, Livio Suppo and Fausto Gresini stage talks during last weekend’s Catalunya Grand Prix in Spain.

But HRC today has confirmed that Pedrosa’s bike will not be ridden at Silverstone, leaving British fans the prospect of seeing only 16 bikes on the grid for Sunday’s race.

It is the second year in succession that one of the world’s top riders has been forced to miss Silverstone. Valentino Rossi was absent a year ago after he broke his right leg in a crash at Mugello just over a week before the British Grand Prix.