de Angelis, who has amassed 15 second place finishes during three seasons in the quarter-litre class - but only one race victory - will take the place of
Marco Melandri, who is heading for the factory Ducati team.
"I am happy to announce that
Alex de Angelis will be one of our two riders next year in
MotoGP," declared team principal Fausto Gresini. "With Alex, who is from San Marino but has come through the Italian motorcycling ranks, our 'tricolore' project continues and is in line with our tradition of opening the door to success to young Italian riders and making sure they have the right package to demonstrate their potential at the highest level.
"Over the years we have already achieved success with Sete Gibernau, Marco Melandri and
Toni Elias in the premier class. We would like to welcome Alex who will make his MotoGP debut with us on a Honda with
Bridgestone tyres. We have signed a one year agreement and we have the option of another year on Alex if he can end the 2008 season with certain results," he revealed. "Our intention is for this to be a long term project. We have a lot of belief in Alex's potential, he is only 23 years old and I hope he can be our team's next winner."
The second Gresini seat is still to be decided with the injured Elias facing pressure from the likes of
Shinya Nakano.
