Miguel Praia

Miguel Praia
Miguel Praia
Nationality	Portuguese
Born	2 March 1978 (age 46); Portalegre, Portugal
Motorcycle racing career statistics
250cc World Championship
Active years	2003
Manufacturers	Yamaha
Championships	0
2003 championship position	NC (0 pts)
Superbike World Championship
Active years	2004–2005
Manufacturers	Ducati, Yamaha
Championships	0
2013 championship position	34th (3 pts)
Supersport World Championship
Active years	2006–2013, 2015
Manufacturers	Honda
Championships	0
2015 championship position	37th (1 pt)

Miguel Praia (born 2 March 1978) is a retired Portuguese motorcycle racer. He now works on the broadcast team for MotoGP in Portugal.

Career

Portuguese championships

Praia was born in Portalegre, Portugal. His first race was in 1994 at the age of 16 on a Yamaha TZR50. In 1997 he rode a full championship for the first time, finishing 3rd overall riding a Yamaha TZR125.

After the death of his brother Alberto Praia, he stopped racing, but returned in 1999 riding a Yamaha TZ125 in the Portuguese 125GP championship, finishing in 6th place.

In 2000, Praia had a good year in the newly established Aprilia Challenge 125cc, ending most races in 1st place and setting several lap records, but a jury decision in the last round placed him in 2nd position overall.

In 2001, Praia moved up into the 600cc category. He finished in 8th position in Troféu Honda CBR600RR.

After a not outstanding year in a supersport class, 2002 was Praia's breakout year. He set new lap records in most rounds, and became champion for Troféu Honda CBR600RR 2002. In 2003 he repeated this achievement, winning the champion's title for Troféu Honda CBR600RR again.

In 2005, at the end of the Portuguese Stocksport 1000 championship, he entered the Superbike World Championship, winning the last two races on a Honda CBR1000RR he had never ridden before.

European championships

In an attempt to get more and better experience from an international competition, in 2002 and 2003 Miguel Praia raced in European Supersport Championship, as the highest-performing Portuguese racer.

World championships

By invitation of the Portuguese Government, Miguel Praia participated in the Macau Grand Prix in 2002 and in 2003, finishing 5th and 4th respectively. In 2003 he entered the Portuguese round of the MotoGP 250cc championship as a wildcard and finished 22nd.

2004 was his first year in full World class championships. He joined team NCR Ducati in the Superbike World Championship along with his teammate Garry McCoy. As the number 2 in the team and a newcomer into the Superbikes world, Praia had a disappointing season, racing on a Ducati 999RS and then a Ducati 998RS. He finished the championship in 30th place.

He switched teams the following year to join DFX Extreme team with a Yamaha R1 in 2005, and saw much improvement in his lap times, but in a year with many newcomers from other world championships in the Superbikes class, his finishing placing dropped to 34th.

Praia switched to a lower class in 2006, the Supersport World Championship, but this time with a new Portuguese team, Parkalgar Racing Team, and riding a Honda CBR600RR. The team experiences some problems in getting the right setup for the machine, and the year did not go well; Praia had to abandon some races due to mechanical failures, and eventually retired from the championship.

In 2007, Praia made better lap times compared with the previous years, but more new rivals from Superbikes and other world championships also joined the championship, and his faster speeds were not reflected in the final standings, again finishing 34th.

In 2008 the Parkalgar Racing Team secured Factory Honda support and a new Honda CBR600RR better shaped then the previous year's ones. The pre-season tests at Almería (Circuito de Almería) in January raised expectations for the team, with Praia's team-mate Craig Jones setting a new lap record for the track and Miguel Praia less than a second behind.

Career highlights

1997 - 3rd place in 125cc Produção (Portuguese championship)
1999 - 6th place in 125GP (Best Rookie) (Portuguese championship)
2000 - 2nd place in Aprilia Challenge 125cc (Portuguese championship)
2001 - 8th place in Troféu Honda CBR600RR (Portuguese championship)
2002 - Champion in Troféu Honda CBR600RR (Portuguese championship)
2002 - Best Portuguese in European Supersport Championship
2002 - 5th place in Macau GP
2003 - Champion in Troféu Honda CBR600RR
2003 - 22nd place in Portuguese round (in Autódromo do Estoril) of MotoGP 250cc
2003 - Best Portuguese in European Supersport Championship
2003 - 4th place in Macau GP
2004 - 30th place in Superbike World Championship (Best Rookie)
2005 - 34th place in Superbike World Championship
2006 - Not-classified in Supersport World Championship
2007 - 34th place in Supersport World Championship
2008 - 25th place in Supersport World Championship
2009 - 15th place in Supersport World Championship
2010 - 12th place in Supersport World Championship
2011 - 13th place in Supersport World Championship
2012 - 23rd place in CEV Moto2 Championship
2013 - 4th place in Brazilian Moto 1000 GP Championship
2014 - 4th place in Brazilian Moto 1000 GP Championship
2015 - 4th place in Brazilian Moto 1000 GP Championship

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Pts
2003	250cc	Yamaha	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	POR 22	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL	NC	0

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		Pos	Pts
Year	Bike	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pos	Pts
2004	Ducati	SPA 13	SPA 19	AUS 16	AUS Ret	SMR DNQ	SMR DNQ	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	GER 17	GER Ret	GBR 14	GBR Ret	USA DNS	USA Ret	EUR Ret	EUR 15	NED Ret	NED 16	ITA Ret	ITA 21	FRA 18	FRA 14			30th	8
2005	Yamaha	QAT 20	QAT 18	AUS 16	AUS 14	SPA Ret	SPA Ret	ITA 23	ITA Ret	EUR 15	EUR Ret	SMR 18	SMR 16	CZE 23	CZE 21	GBR Ret	GBR Ret	NED 21	NED 19	GER 16	GER 18	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	34th	3

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos	Pts
2006	Honda	QAT	AUS	SPA 20	ITA 19	EUR 23	SMR Ret	CZE Ret	GBR 27	NED 18	GER 18	ITA Ret	FRA 16			NC	0
2007	Honda	QAT 19	AUS 24	EUR 20	SPA 21	NED Ret	ITA 21	GBR 11	SMR 21	CZE Ret	GBR 21	GER Ret	ITA Ret	FRA Ret		34th	5
2008	Honda	QAT 13	AUS 21	SPA 15	NED 17	ITA Ret	GER 13	SMR Ret	CZE Ret	GBR Ret	EUR Ret	ITA 13	FRA Ret	POR 12		25th	14
2009	Honda	AUS Ret	QAT 12	SPA 18	NED Ret	ITA 12	RSA 16	USA 12	SMR 10	GBR Ret	CZE Ret	GER 11	ITA 9	FRA 12	POR 10	15th	40
2010	Honda	AUS 9	POR Ret	SPA 12	NED 10	ITA 10	RSA 10	USA 14	SMR 9	CZE 7	GBR 6	GER 13	ITA Ret	FRA 10		12th	66
2011	Honda	AUS Ret	EUR 11	NED 8	ITA Ret	SMR 12	SPA 9	CZE Ret	GBR 8	GER Ret	ITA 8	FRA 13	POR 8			13th	51
2012	Honda	AUS	ITA	NED	ITA	EUR	SMR	SPA	CZE	GBR	RUS	GER 16	POR 17	FRA 22		NC	0
2013	Honda	AUS	SPA	NED	ITA	GBR	POR 20	ITA	RUS	GBR	GER	TUR	FRA	SPA		NC	0
2015	Honda	AUS	THA	SPA	NED	ITA	GBR	POR 15	ITA	MAL	SPA	FRA	QAT			37th	1

External links

miguel-praia.com - Official site (in Portuguese)
Miguel Praia on MotoGP.com^{[dead link‍]}
Miguel Praia on WorldSBK.com
Miguel Praia Sport Tv - YouTube video interview for Sport TV (in Portuguese)
CBRWorld.net Interview - Video interview with Praia after the 2005 World SBK Season (in Portuguese)