Two years ago in Valencia, Karel Abraham won for the first time in his career. Last year he battled for fourth. This year he achieved his best result of the season in a “wacky race” at Circuit Ricardo Tormo and managed to repeat his personal best in MotoGP. Battling for seventh place, Karel managed, among other things, to defeat nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi for the first time during a race.
The race was affected by weather from the very beginning. Following morning rain showers the track was getting dry and the teams chose different tactics of how to deal with the changing conditions. Cardion AB Motoracing went into the race with tyres for wet races, as did many other racers. Some of them changed their tyres, in exchange for having to start from the end of the pit lane. Other racers also had to change their tyres after only a few laps, which resulted in changes in the lead and the situation was very confusing for the racers themselves.
Abaja demonstrated a skilful battle, which included overtaking Valentino Rossi and battling for sixth place with the best satellite racer of the season, Andrea Dovizioso on Yamaha.
Due to the confusing situation in the first few laps many riders, including Karel Abraham, started to fall behind and the leaders eventually started to lap everyone else. Abraham was the last rider who managed to complete the entire race, because he overtook the winner of the race, Dani Pedrosa.
Karel Abraham
“It was indeed a wacky race and there was much excitement on the track. There were many surprising moments. At one moment, I was overtaken by the winner of the race, Dani Pedrosa, but I had no idea I was just being lapped. I thought he had just had his tyres changed in the pit. So I was in fact racing with him without actually having to. On the other hand, it's great that I managed to overtake him and stay in front of him. I am really glad that I managed to achieve the best result among Ducatis and leave Valentino Rossi behind. When I caught up with him I thought he had a wet tyre and I was really surprised that he had a slick. On the other hand, I am a little upset that Dovizioso eventually overtook me, because I could have finished sixth. It was a tyre lottery prior to the race. It was not the wisest of choices on our part. I am a little disappointed, but, then again, there is no point in looking back. With slick tyres from the very beginning, I could have been on the podium. On the other hand, I would have risked falling because the dry racing line was really narrow at the beginning of the race.
Marco Grana, Chief Mechanic, Cardion AB Motoracing
“I am really happy after today's race. Not just because it was his best race of the season and because he managed to repeat his career best. I am particularly glad that we have managed to conclude our cooperation with Ducati with a very good result. In addition, Karel proved that he is able to race against riders who have much better bikes. The decision before the race about the best tyres was a tough one. We thought, just like some other teams did, that a wet tyre would allow us to gain some advantage for a subsequent pit stop. Unfortunately we had to make the pit stop after just a few laps and lost about 30 seconds which Karel was unable to erase. On the other hand, it was a wise decision to use the front soft slick tyre, as Karel managed to achieve excellent lap times and was even faster than Pedrosa, Dovizioso or Nakasuga. We quickly managed to overtake Valentino Rossi. This race marks the end of our cooperation with Ducati. I am glad it was a dignified goodbye. Starting tomorrow, it will be a brand new chapter with an Aprilia CRT bike. We need to work hard from the very beginning. Our ambition is to have the best CRT bike in the 2013 season.”
Cardion AB Ducati Press Release
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