Miguel Praia

Miguel Praia (born 2 March 1978) is a retired Portuguese motorcycle racer. He was the first Portuguese racer to participate full time in the Superbike World Championship. As of 2025, he is the director of the Algarve International Autodrome (AIA) Motor Club, which hosts the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix.

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 third overall riding a Yamaha TZR125.

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

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

In 2001, Praia moved up into the 600cc category. He finished in eighth 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, Praia 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, Praia raced in European Supersport Championship, as the highest-performing Portuguese racer.

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

2004 was Praia's 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.

Praia 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 – 1st place in Superbike category of 500 Miles Brazil 2013 – 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 POR22 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 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 2004 Ducati SPA13 SPA19 AUS16 AUSRet SMRDNQ SMRDNQ ITARet ITARet GER17 GERRet GBR14 GBRRet USADNS USARet EURRet EUR15 NEDRet NED16 ITARet ITA21 FRA18 FRA14 30th 8 2005 Yamaha QAT20 QAT18 AUS16 AUS14 SPARet SPARet ITA23 ITARet EUR15 EURRet SMR18 SMR16 CZE23 CZE21 GBRRet GBRRet NED21 NED19 GER16 GER18 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 SPA20 ITA19 EUR23 SMRRet CZERet GBR27 NED18 GER18 ITARet FRA16 NC 0 2007 Honda QAT19 AUS24 EUR20 SPA21 NEDRet ITA21 GBR11 SMR21 CZERet GBR21 GERRet ITARet FRARet 34th 5 2008 Honda QAT13 AUS21 SPA15 NED17 ITARet GER13 SMRRet CZERet GBRRet EURRet ITA13 FRARet POR12 25th 14 2009 Honda AUSRet QAT12 SPA18 NEDRet ITA12 RSA16 USA12 SMR10 GBRRet CZERet GER11 ITA9 FRA12 POR10 15th 40 2010 Honda AUS9 PORRet SPA12 NED10 ITA10 RSA10 USA14 SMR9 CZE7 GBR6 GER13 ITARet FRA10 12th 66 2011 Honda AUSRet EUR11 NED8 ITARet SMR12 SPA9 CZERet GBR8 GERRet ITA8 FRA13 POR8 13th 51 2012 Honda AUS ITA NED ITA EUR SMR SPA CZE GBR RUS GER16 POR17 FRA22 NC 0 2013 Honda AUS SPA NED ITA GBR POR20 ITA RUS GBR GER TUR FRA SPA NC 0 2015 Honda AUS THA SPA NED ITA GBR POR15 ITA MAL SPA FRA QAT 37th 1