Czech motorcycle rider Karel Abraham finished seventeenth in the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. During the MotoGP class race, on a slowly drying track, he was a part of a group that competed for ninth place. After a fall, he managed to return to the race but all he could do with his damaged bike was improve his times while chasing racers in front of him.
Karel Abraham
“The whole weekend everybody expected it was going to be a wet race. But the track was dry during the race. It was a problem for us. I think we were well prepared for wet conditions, but on the other hand the settings were not particularly suitable for dry conditions. Only a very small portion of the programme actually took place on dry surface – only the qualifying session. The bike was not behaving perfectly, but I still wanted to stay in the same group with Rossi, Barbera and Spies. It just went wrong in one turn and my front wheel slipped as it has a few times before. It is my second unfinished race after Qatar where I did not finish due to technical difficulties. It is a very bad start of a new season. It is hard for me and it is hard for the entire team but we have to leave these worries behind and have our minds set on the next race, one week from now in Portugal.”
Marco Grana, Chief Mechanic, Cardion AB Motoracing
“This was a very bad race, even though it looked very promising at first. Our warm-up time was very good. Too bad it eventually ended this way. This weekend was very tough for everybody. The weather was playing tricks on us and we were unable to deal with it. We have to try something different now. We will work on the bike and even Karel has to work on himself. We need a restart and we need to get back on our feet and keep totally focused on Estoril.”
Cardion Ducati AB Press Release
