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After testing for three days at Jerez with Carlos Checa and Franco Battaini, Ducati Corse may not be saying much about the new Ducati Desmosedici GP12, but that hasn’t stop Karel Abraham from releasing some details about the new Italian steed today. The “official” technical specifications of MotoGP race bikes are always a bit vague, and Ducati Corse has unsurprisingly stuck to that trend with the GP12. Stating horsepower in the 250hp range, 15hp more than what was quoted for the GP11, Ducati also lists a top speed of over 360 km/h, up from the GP11’s 340+ km/h quoted figure.

Perhaps more interesting than the power and top speed figures is the quoted displacement for Abraham’s GP12. With fuel restrictions not increasing with the maximum displacement allotment for 2012, and the maximum bore size set at 81mm for the new MotoGP era, Ducati in particular was rumored to be exploring a displacement figure in the 900cc range, but interestingly enough appears to be taking the GP12 up to the maximum cylinder volume. There is also of course some speculation that Ducati Corse could use a narrower V° angle, a change from the standard 90° V4 we’ve seen from the Italian brand.

Karel Abraham has just confirmed that he will be riding a Ducati Desmosedici GP11 in next year’s MotoGP Championship series. Who is Abraham you may be asking? Well he’s the son of Karel Abraham of course. Yeah…we didn’t think that would explain things very well either. Let’s put it this way, Abraham Sr. is the owner of the GP track at Brno, and Abraham Jr. is his son that has never won a race, let alone a podium, at any GP level race.

Swelling Ducati’s numbers on the MotoGP grid, Karel Abraham (Jr.) will be the sixth Ducati on the grid, which includes the two factory Ducatis of Marlboro Ducati, the two semi-factory Ducatis of Pramac Ducati, and the satellite Ducati of Team Aspar. That’s a lot of Desmos.