The “Cardion AB style” gala programme was all about two stars this year: Karel Abraham and his new ART motorcycle for the 2013 MotoGP season.
The bike in the 2013 season livery was unveiled in the deconsecrated chapel of Sacre Coeur in the historical downtown Prague, Czech Republic on Monday. Abraham had tested the ART in the Valencia test after the last race of the 2012 season, but this was the first time it was unveiled in its correct livery for the year.
As before, the Cardion AB team will stick with its one rider line-up with Abraham, who will be hoping for fewer crashes in 2013 and more consistent results aboard a bike that has proven to be the CRT to beat.
“I know that motorbikes do not run on design, but I have to say I am very excited about design this year,” Abraham said. “We have been focused on the same principle for years and now I feel it’s close to perfection. I am hoping for a similar level of perfection on the track.
“My goal is to always be one of the best CRT riders. And I believe there will be several opportunities during the season to race against the prototypes, since there are circuits where the differences between CRT bikes and prototypes are eliminated. I had a very good feeling about ART at Valencia during first testing, especially its cornering performance. We should have a better engine now and I cannot wait to ride the bike at Sepang.”
Added chief mechanic Marco Grana, “Ironically, the transition to ART is not that big a deal for mechanics. Karel has had an Aprilia for most of his career and we can use this experience to our advantage, now that Karel will ride the ART. Of course we all spent a lot of time in Noale so that we could get to know the bike and work hard from the very beginning to make sure Karel has the bike well under control.”
–From motogp.com
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