Abraham completes two-year deal to join Avintia in MotoGP from 2019

Abraham, 28, has competed in MotoGP's premier class intermittently since 2011 and has spend the past two seasons competing for Nieto Ducati.

But Nieto will give up its MotoGP 2019 entries to Yamaha's new satellite outfit SIC, which has signed Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo, and Abraham has found alternative employment for the next two years.

"I'm very happy to see Karel Abraham joining our team," said Avintia team owner Raul Romero.

"He is a hard worker, has won in Moto2, and has a lot of experience in MotoGP and with Ducati.

"I'm also happy to announce that we will continue with Ducati for two more seasons."

Autosport reported back in July that Abraham was likely to land an Avintia ride, but the rider, who is 23rd in the current standings riding a Ducati GP16, was insistent on securing a newer-specification bike.

Avintia currently fields a Ducati GP17 for Tito Rabat and a 2016-spec bike for Xavier Simeon, but Abraham - who is expected to line up alongside Rabat next year - has revealed he will have a 2018-spec Desmosedici at his disposal next year.

"We signed in Silverstone because it was very important for me to finalise every detail of the contract in order to get competitive machinery," Abraham said.

"This worked out also thanks to a big help of [general manager] Luigi Dall'Igna and [sporting director] Paolo Ciabatti from Ducati factory.

"The important part is that it will be Ducati GP18 with the newest specification, which has good results from this season.

"Thanks to that, I believe that we will be able to make some really good results and I am already very excited about the next season."