Former FIM 125cc GP World Champion Mike Di Meglio will ride an FTR-Kawasaki in the 2014 FIM MotoGP World Championship for the Avintia Blusens team, according to a press release issued by the team January 3. Di Meglio, age 25, of France, made his World Championship debut in the 125cc class in 2003. He won his first Grand Prix, a 125cc race, in 2005, and he won the 2008 FIM 125cc World Championship on a Derbi. He moved up to the 250cc World Championship in 2009 and achieved two podium finishes and eighth in the Championship while riding an Aprilia, but he failed to reach the podium in the Moto2 class from 2010 through 2013. Di Meglio started testing the Avintia Blusens FTR-Kawasaki at Brno during the 2013 season and rode the bike again in post-season tests at Valencia and Motorland Aragon. Di Meglio, the only Frenchman to race in MotoGP in 2014, will be teamed with Hector Barbera, who has extended his contract with Avintia Blusens through the 2015 season.