Abraham exits Avintia amid Zarco talks

Karel Abraham pic: MotoGP.com

Karel Abraham has announced his exit from Avintia Racing’s MotoGP squad, opening the door for Johann Zarco to join the satellite Ducati team.

While Ducati Sporting Director Paolo Ciabatti ruled out any movements for Jack Miller or Danilo Petrucci, who are currently domiciled at Pramac Racing and the factory Ducati Team respectively, the Bologna factory was in talks with Zarco at least as recently as last week’s Valencia test.

The Frenchman is being targeted by Ducati to ride with Avintia, which has had its deal with the factory upgraded amid the speculation about Zarco’s future.

Ahead of the Jerez post-season test, Abraham wrote on Instagram, “You might know already, but I am not going to compete in @motogp in 2020.

“I am very sad and disappointed, but need to move on and focus on whats (sic) coming next.”

Zarco had also looked at the Moto2 ride vacated by Alex Marquez as an option for 2020, but Marc VDS has now announced Augusto Fernandez as a replacement for the new Repsol Honda rider.

Eric Granado, who took two wins with Avintia in this year’s inaugural MotoE World Cup, rode for the team on the opening day of the Jerez MotoGP test.