Pramac Racing

Toni Elías 2008

The D'Antin MotoGP team is a Spanish motorsport team that competes in the MotoGP class of the motorcycle world championship . Team boss and owner is the former Spanish motorcycle racer Luis d'Antin .

The team was known for many years under the name Antena 3 Yamaha D'Antin , from 2005 to 2012 with an interruption in 2008 it started as Pramac D'Antin MotoGP , named after the main sponsor and co-owner Pramac , an Italian industrial company that produces equipment, among other things to generate electricity. In the 2008 season the team was called Alice Team , as the Telecom Italia subsidiary Alice was the main sponsor.

history

Luis D'Antin founded the team in 1999 and immediately found a potent sponsor in the Spanish telecommunications company Antena 3 , who would support the team until the end of 2002. The 1999 season started in the 250 cc class of the Motorcycle World Championship with Yamaha machines and the two Spaniards Fonsi Nieto and David García as pilots.

For the 2000 season , the team rose to the 500 cc class and celebrated the team's only victory to date with the Japanese Norick Abe at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka . Abe finished eighth in the overall World Cup at the end of the season.

In the 2001 season , the D'Antin MotoGP started with the Spaniard José Luis Cardoso as the second rider alongside Abe, who achieved seventh place in the championship this season.

For the 2002 season , the 500 cc class became the MotoGP class and the D'Antin team started with the same driver line-up. Norick Abe consistently drove into the top ten and finished sixth in the drivers' championship at the end of the season.

In the 2003 season , D'Antin used Yamaha four-stroke engines for the first time. The pilot this year was the Japanese Shin'ya Nakano , who scored points in every race of the season but did not achieve a podium finish and ended the season in tenth place in the World Cup.

For the 2004 season, the team switched to Ducati and used the factory motorcycle from the previous year, with which Loris Capirossi had won a world championship run. The rider was the Briton Neil Hodgson , who had become World Superbike Champion on Ducati the previous year , and the Spaniard Rubén Xaus . The highlight of the season was a third place for Xaus at the Grand Prix of Qatar in Losail . However, during the year the team ran into financial difficulties. After promising negotiations with the potential sponsor VISA and even a few races in the company's colors, the company withdrew and no other main sponsor was found during the season.

The 2005 season was contested with only one driver, the Italian Roberto Rolfo . Due to the financial difficulties in the previous year, Michelin could no longer deliver racing tires and had to make do with the inferior material from Dunlop , which meant that Rolfo often only ended up in the rear.

In the 2006 season , the team started again on Ducati and received the Desmosedici GP6, a motorcycle that was technically almost on a par with the current factory machine. The two drivers Alex Hofmann and José Luis Cardoso , however, often had to struggle with the inferior tire material from Dunlop and were often only among the backbenchers.

The team was very optimistic about the 2007 season , as the brand new Desmosedici GP7 was used, which according to the new regulations only had 800 cc instead of 990 cc. The Brazilian veteran Alex Barros , who returned from the Superbike World Championship, rode alongside Alex Hofmann . In 2007, the team also started on Bridgestone tires, which were able to claim four Grand Prix victories in 2006 and thus had the same package available as the works team, in which Australian Casey Stoner won the world title. While Alex Barros regularly finished the races in the top ten and even achieved a podium in Italy , Alex Hofmann was less lucky. In Laguna Seca , he was innocently involved in an accident with Sylvain Guintoli , in which he seriously injured his left hand. After his return he was dismissed for lack of motivation and his place in the team was given to Chaz Davies .

In the 2008 season , the Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli and the Spaniard Toni Elías drove for the team that started as the Alice team . It continued to use Ducati motorcycles with Bridgestone tires. Elías finished two races on the podium in the season. At the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic he drove to second place and the Grand Prix of San Marino he finished third. Guintoli did not reach any podium and finished the season in 13th place behind his teammate.

In 2009 the team, again competing under Pramac Racing, signed the two drivers Mika Kallio and Niccolò Canepa . Both missed podium positions in the season and finished in 15th and 16th place in the season's standings. Later in the season, the team hired Michel Fabrizio , who competed in a race as a reserve driver. At the end of the season, Aleix Espargaró drove four races for the team, as Canepa could not take part in three races.

In the following season 2010 Kallio denied his second year with Pramac Racing. Canepa was replaced by Espargaró. This season, too, the team was unable to record any racing success for themselves. In the last two races in Estoril and Valencia , the Spaniard Carlos Checa drove for Mika Kallio, who has left the team.

The next year the team started with the new drivers Randy De Puniet and Loris Capirossi . Both ended the 2011 season without podium results in positions 16 and 17. At the Japanese Grand Prix , the Australian Damian Cudlin drove for the injured Capirossi but without making it into the points.

In 2012 , the team signed only one driver for the season, Héctor Barberá , who achieved the best team result in five years with 11th place in the season standings despite an injury in three races not participated. Toni Elías drove three races as a substitute driver for Barberá and secured 10 points. With a total of 93 points, the team finished eighth in the team classification.

Francesco Bagnaia has been competing for Pramac alongside Jack Miller since 2019 .

statistics

(Status: end of season 2012)

season	class	motorcycle	Start number	driver	run	Victories	Podiums	Points	World Cup place
1999	250 cc	Yamaha	10	Fonsi Nieto	16	-	-	10	23.
			15th	David García	15th	-	-	4th	29
2000	500 cc	Yamaha	6th	Norick Abe	16	1	3	147	8th.
2001	500 cc	Yamaha YZR 500	6th	Norick Abe	16	-	1	137	7th
			10	José Luis Cardoso	16	-	-	45	16.
2002	MotoGP	Yamaha	6th	Norick Abe	15th	-	-	129	6th
			20th	Pere Riba	6th	-	-	4th	27.
			30th	José Luis Cardoso	6th	-	-	9	23.
2003	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	56	Shin'ya Nakano	16	-	-	101	10.
2004	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP3	11	Rubén Xaus	16	-	-	77	11.
			50	Neil Hodgson	16	-	1	38	17th
2005	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP4	44	Roberto Rolfo	17th	-	-	25th	18th
2006	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP6	22nd	Ivan Silva	3	-	-	0	23.
			30th	José Luis Cardoso	17th	-	-	10	20th
			66	Alex Hofmann	14th	-	-	30th	17th
2007	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP7	4th	Alex Barros	18th	-	1	115	10.
			22nd	Iván Silva	1	-	-	-	-
			57	Chaz Davies	4th	-	-	-	-
			66	Alex Hofmann	12	-	-	65	13.
			72	Shin'ichi Ito	1	-	-	1	26th
2008	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP8	24	Toni Elías	18th	-	2	92	12.
			50	Sylvain Guintoli	18th	-	-	67	13.
2009	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP9	36	Mika Kallio	13	-	1	54	15th
			44	Aleix Espargaró	4th	-	-	16	18th
			84	Michel Fabrizio	1	-	-	-	-
			88	Niccolò Canepa	14th	-	-	38	16.
2010	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP10	36	Mika Kallio	16	-	-	43	17th
			44	Aleix Espargaró	18th	-	-	65	14th
			71	Carlos Checa	2	-	-	1	21st
2011	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP11	6th	Damian Cudlin	1	-	-	-	-
			14th	Randy De Puniet	15th	-	-	49	16.
			65	Loris Capirossi	13	-	-	43	17th
2012	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP12	8th	Héctor Barberá	15th	-	-	83	11.
			24	Toni Elías	3	-	-	10	24.

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