It wasn’t exactly a closely guarded secret after Carlos Checa informed fans via Twitter he would be at Estoril and Valencia, but now Pramac Ducati has officially confirmed his presence in the next two MotoGP races.
The Spaniard who has spent the last three years in WSBK’s and finished third in this year’s standings will be replacing injured Mika Kallio and will race with number 71 on his Ducati GP10.
Checa will have very busy week, he’ll be testing at the Motorland Aragon circuit with his Ducati 1098R superbike and then will head to Estoril for the MotoGP weekend, and will be lucky to get an extra 45 minutes of practice, as Friday morning practice will be again reinstated.
“I really want to thank the Pramac Racing Team for believing in me and for this wonderful gift!” said Checa.
“After three years is a great pleasure for me to return in the MotoGP world, here I have some wonderful memories.
So many things have changed over three years ago, both in the mechanical of the bikes and in the MotoGP world, but many others had remained unchanged.
I know I should not expect too much because the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 is very different from the bike which I had run this year, but I know many of my next opponents and I will do my best to fight shoulder to shoulder with them to try to finish these two races with positive results.
”Paolo Campinoti – Team Principal Pramac Racing Team“After the decision taken by Mika Kallio to not take part to the last two races, we decided to call a rider with experience and talent that could give us a good end of season.
Thanks also to consult with Ducati, we decided to call after three year of absence from MotoGP races, the Spaniard Carlos Checa that was riding this year a Ducati in the Superbike World Championship.
Of course it will be important for him to run as much as possible on Estoril´s track during the free practice session so that he can be able to improve as much as possible his feeling with the bike.
We know about his undisputed talent and potential, this is also the reason why I cannot hide that we expect from him a good result in both races that he will race with the colors of the Pramac Racing Team.
”