Current Honda test rider and longtime Grand Prix contender Hiroshi Aoyama is replacing Dani Pedrosa at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas this weekend in Austin and at the MotoGP in Argentina May 19. Pedrosa is recovering from his arm pump operation , performed last week. At the conclusion of this weekend, Aoyama will have competed in more Grands Prix than any other Japanese rider. I asked Aoyama how difficult it is to resume racing after taking time out to be a Honda test rider for a year. His reply: He said he had been a Grand Prix rider continuously for many years prior to this, and that his work for Honda has consisted in testing machines very similar to the one he is riding here at Circuit of the Americas. Because of this, the interruption to his riding has been small. 
I then asked him to compare his interruption to the one Valentino Rossi experienced when he spent time with Ducati. Aoyama reckoned that Rossi’s interruption was greater than his own. The Japanese rider also noted that a factory test rider’s job is to verify the safety and usefulness of changes to the bike, however small. When asked to compare the national race series of Spain, Italy, and Japan, Aoyama praised the former two while noting that Japan has in the past produced more top riders. Now, however, the smaller population of riders taking part in Japan’s national series has had a negative effect on Japan’s production of top riders. 
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