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Czech racing team Cardion AB has signed a leasing agreement with Ducati to race a Desmosedici GP11 for the 2011 MotoGP season. Cardion AB will enter a single rider, 20-year-old Karel Abraham, swelling the MotoGP grid to 18 with six of the entries riding a Ducati Desmosedici.

A new entry is positive news for MotoGP which has seen its grid shrink in recent seasons. The 2010 British Grand Prix and TT Assen saw only 15 bikes start the race due to injuries to Valentino Rossi and Hiroshi Aoyama. In this context, Cardion ABs entry is good news.

In the context of competitiveness, the news may not be as positive. Abraham happens to be the son of Cardion ABs team owner, also named Karel Abraham. The senior Abraham also happens to be the owner of the Masaryk Circuit in Brno, site of the Czech Grand Prix.

Karel Abraham Jr. and the Cardion AB team are racing in the Moto2 class this season, currently sitting in 14th place. In five and a half seasons in the 125cc class, Moto2, and the 250cc class it replaced, Abraham has never finished higher than fourth. Even worse, in five career GP races at Brno, the circuit his father owns, Abraham has only been classified once, finishing 14th in the 2007 250cc race.

To his credit however, Abraham has shown improvement in recent races. Abraham has finished in the top ten in the last three Moto2 races, placing ninth in the Assen round in the Netherlands, fourth in Catalunya, Spain, and fifth at Germanys Sachsenring. Abraham also recently tested the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 at Italys Mugello Circuit, reportedly posting respectable lap times.

Cardion AB will officially announce its entry to the 2011 MotoGP season at the Czech Republic Grand Prix, Aug. 13-15.