Czech rider Karel Abraham will make his return to the MotoGP World Championship with the Aspar team, riding a Ducati GP15 alongside Alvaro Bautista next season.
Abraham, a former Grand Prix winner in the Moto2 class, switched to the World Superbike Championship for this season with the Milwaukee BMW team, after a tough 2015 in MotoGP saw the Czech rider sidelined for most of it with injury and failing to score a single point in the races he contested.
Abraham has found the transition from Grand Prix to Superbikes tough. His best result has been a solitary ninth at the Donington round of the series, and he currently lies 18th in the standings on 33 points. He was forced to miss last weekend’s Jerez round due to illness.
2017 won’t be the first time the Czech rider has raced a Desmosedici. The Cardion AB Motoracing team, with whom he raced with from 2011 to 2015, ran Ducati machinery for 2011 and 2012 on which Abraham scored his best results in the premier class of three seventh place finishes.
“I am really pleased to come back to MotoGP. I started to work on this goal as soon as I knew there was a possibility.,” said Abraham.
“I am really happy: coming back to Ducati, which is my favourite bike, and also thinking about my first season with them, which was my best season. It’s an honour to be a part of this team, which is so famous in the paddock, so professional and so good, and together with Ducati I believe we can make a very good connection, I’m really looking forward to that.”
This announcement spells the end of Yonny Hernandez’ time in MotoGP, the Colombian originally thought to be safe at the Spanish team when Eugene Laverty signed with the Milwaukee Aprilia team in WorldSBK for next year. But results have been disappointing, with Hernandez only 22nd in the championship on 17 points whilst teammate Laverty is 12th on 71 points. At present, Hernandez’ future remains unclear.
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