Karel Abraham is currently without a ride for the 2017 WorldSBK season, with the soon-to-be Milwaukee Aprilia team run by Shaun Muir Racing (SMR) having elected not to retain the services of the Czech rider after the end of the current season.

Abraham, a Moto2 World Championship Grand Prix winner, was expecting to stay with SMR for at least a second season, but explains his surprise at the final decision.

“It’s a unfortunate because I expected to stay with what is a new team in World Superbike for more than one year – and that’s why I went there,” Abraham tells WorldSBK.com. “So that’s unfortunate because I could have looked for something else earlier, but I thought I would be staying with Milwaukee 100%. Now I’m out. So, basically, I am looking for something else. I am talking to some people but it’s just the very beginning because it hasn’t been so long since I’ve known that information.”

The 26-year-old insists that his aim is to remain in the World Superbike paddock.

“I’m focused on World Superbike,” he continues. “That is where I really want to stay and I like it. It has so far been a really great experience and I want to move up and be in the top ten and maybe move it further, to better positions.”

With Abraham, current team-mate Josh Brookes and BMW motorcycles having not been retained by Milwaukee for 2017, the new-look Aprilia team will be running Lorenzo Savadori alongside 13-time WorldSBK race winner and 33-time podium finisher Eugene Laverty as the Irishman returns after two seasons in MotoGP.