Czech rider Karel Abraham had just five laps remaining to claim his first points of the season, but after a heavy fall in 12th place he was unable to finish the Portuguese Grand Prix. Throughout the race he kept the Ducati Team rider Nick Hayden in his sights, gradually closing the gap down to 1.5 seconds, before suffering an unlucky crash.
Karel Abraham
„‘I wasn’t seriously hurt in today’s crash. I was trying to catch Nicky, but lost my rear wheel coming out of a corner. I wasn’t expecting a highsider, and I finished up getting thrown off. I’m really angry, that’s all I can say about it! Tomorrow during testing we’ll see if there’s anything else we can do to improve the bike’s set-up’ said the Czech rider after the race, adding, ‘before Le Mans I will get my spine looked at. After the fall in Jerez, I wasn’t 100 %, but I’m not going to make excuses for myself. Over the next two weeks I’m going to have to sort myself out and finally get a few points in France.’
Marco Grana, Chief Mechanic Cardion AB Motoracing
‘This is a real disappointment - the bike was working well, and compared to yesterday, Abaja rode one lap over half a second quicker, which we were all very pleased about. Unfortunately, the incredible effort to overtake Hayden ended with him crashing out. After the morning’s warm-up, the track surface had cooled a little, so today we chose a combination of hard front tyre with a soft mixture for the rear. Tomorrow we’ve got tests, and we’ll again be trying out new settings on the motorcycle. The main problem we’re facing right now, though, is the mental state of our rider – which after three race failures isn’t too good.’
Cardion Ducati AB Press Release
