Defective tyre keeps Cardus from fighting for points at home race

It should have been the day for Ricky Cardus and the Arginano Moto2 Team. The AJR went well and Ricky knew he had the right setup to fight for points, but it wasn’t to be. A defective front tyre caused Cardus severe problems after the first five laps, the heavy vibration even keeping him from properly seeing his dashboard. The closest he got to scoring points was 17th position. In the end a disappointment which won’t last long, because already next weekend at Estoril the Grand Prix of Portugal will get underway and the team can return to building up motivation and aspire to more.

Jerez was also very differnt from Qatar. The team worked only with the MUPO suspensions from MHS and Ricky felt fairly comfortable with them. The team now knows where they have improved and where they still need to improve from now on. And they reacted well to unpredictable situations – in the qualifying first a piece of the clutch and later the timing support broke and they were able to ride and do a good qualifying.

Ricky Cardús (19th): “A difficult race, because the track was between wet and dry and you had to be very carful. I was competitive, but then the tyre turned out to be defective and I went backwards, losing some of my confidence. And when the race was stopped nine laps before the end with a red flag because of the rain, we’ve been passed by many riders because of this problem with the front. But we did an important step with the setting and the team, we’ll be better in Estoril.”

Gorka Segura, chief mechanic: “For the race we knew where we were strong and what race we wanted. The front tyre was defective. It was vibrating a lot and bumping and Ricky couldn’t ride in these conditions. Thanks to Karlos for supporting us in Jerez and Ginés for his direction of work. Let’s see if we can continue progressing in Portugal.”

Ginés Guirado, sporting director: “With the one from today and since the test in Jerez this was the fourth defective tyre we had. And that’s a shame, because the tyres are marked with a code of origin and just because of that there are situations which shouldn’t be the result of chance. At the end of the race Ricky complained of very strong vibrations and we tested it and it rotated on the rim. The people at Dunlop gave us the explanation and communicated it to the factory and we asked that this won’t happen to us again. What a shame with how well we thought we could do here in Jerez! Our rider assured us that the bike was very good and he thought of getting points.

Aside from that, in Estoril we want to be sure with MUPO to decide about continuing with them until the end of the year. The Öhlins are a very good product, but right now the MUPO fits better to the AJR.”

Source: Arginano Racing