Karel Abraham at the beginning of a new season with ART The “Cardion AB style” gala programme was all about two stars this year: Karel Abraham and his new ART motorbike for the 2013 MotoGP season. The motorbike in the 2013 season livery was unveiled in the deconsecrated chapel of Sacre Coeur in the historical downtown Prague, Czech Republic. Karel Abraham: “I know that motorbikes do not run on design, but I have to say I am very excited about design this year. 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.” Marco Grana, Chief Mechanic: “Ironically, the transition to ART is not that big a deal for mechanics. Karel has had the 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.” Karel Abraham Sr., Team Manager: “ART is one of the best CRT motorbikes. The transition from prototype is not a step backwards but rather a side step. I believe CRTs´ will be able to match with prototypes. Plus, they will be much more visible thanks to the new qualification system.”