MotoGP News
After the Australian Grand Prix, Pramac Racing Ducati rider Mika Kallio decided to end his partnership with the team. The Finnish rider, whose contract was complete after the 2010 MotoGP season, decided to leave early due to recovering from a shoulder injury sustained at the French Grand Prix.
Needing to find a rider for the remaining two rounds of the 2010 MotoGP Championship, Pramac chose the experience of 38-year-old current World Superbike racer Carlos Checa.
Pramac Racing confirmed on Monday that the Spaniard will finish out the remaining races of the 2010 season at Estoril and Valencia. Pramac has also made it clear that Checa has only signed for the remaining two races of 2010, and not for next season.
Checa, who finished third in the 2010 WSBK championship aboard the Althea Racing Ducati 1098R, will be running the number 71 instead of his preferred number 7; Interwetten Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama currently competes using the number 7.
Carlos Checa says: “I really want to thank the Pramac Racing Team for believing in me and for this wonderful gift! 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) says: “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.”
Carlos Checa MotoGP History
Checa has a great experience in the premier class of the MotoGP where he has raced for 15 years from 1993 to 2007. With two victories between 1996 and 1998, Checa received a series of podium and good results that have brought him near the top position in the overall rankings in the late nineties and early years of this decade.
His best seasons were in 1998 with the 500cc class when he finished fourth in the World Championship, and in 2002 with the new MotoGP when he finished in fifth place. The results on the track and the huge experience accumulated during the years of premier class, have allowed Checa the call of the Pramac Racing Team, that will line up in this way a couple of Spanish riders who are the youngest with Aleix Espargaró, born in the 1989, and the oldest Carlos Checa, born in the 1972.
Carlos Checa History
1993 – 125cc – 27th
1993 – 250cc – 23th
1994 – 250cc – 12th
1995 – 250cc – 13th
1995 – 500cc – 16th
1996 – 500cc – 8th
1997 – 500cc – 8th
1998 – 500cc – 4th
1999 – 500cc – 7th
2000 – 500cc – 6th
2001 – 500cc – 6th
2002 – MotoGP -5th
2003 – MotoGP – 7th
2004 – MotoGP – 7th
2005 – MotoGP – 9th
2006 – MotoGP – 15th
2007 – MotoGP – 14th
2008 – SBK – 4h
2009 – SBK – 7th
2010 – SBK – 3rd
MotoGP Championship:
- Victories, 2
- Podiums, 24
- Pole Positions, 3
World Superbike Championship
- Victories, 5
- Podiums, 19
- Pole Positions, 2
