Cardion AB

Czech MotoGP rider Karel Abraham finished 22nd in the first off-season MotoGP tests at Malaysian Sepang Circuit. Learning to ride his new ART motorcycle Abraham made his best lap time 2:04,766 at Thursday evening and looking forward to next tests at Sepang in the end of February.

Karel Abraham

"I was able to improve my best lap time and get it under 2:05. Another positive moment is that I can do my best laps constantly. Obviously I expected to be faster. Especially in the last half-hour I felt really good and it´s pity that I wasn´t able to improve the best lap time. However I really like the bike and I hope that we found good set up in the end which can be perfect starting point for next tests.”

Marco Grana, Cardion AB Motoracing chief mechanic

“It was difficult day for us. We did lot of work on the bike and we improved our lap time to 2:04.7 but we aren´t fast enough. We solved the problem with chattering of front, but we are still weak in braking. Karel has started to understand the bike and he´s happy with the feeling on it, but he brakes too soon. It´s not problem of ART; Karel needs to forget Ducati bike from previous season. This causes his 'braking problem'. For next tests we must do everything to let Karel forget Ducati era.”