Launch of Cardion AB 2012 MotoGP Team

 
 
Cardion AB really know how to put on a show!


A spectacular evening at the grandest music hall in the Czech Republic - the Rudolfinum - was attended by about 160 people from sport, industry, media and the government. 


Pole Position Travel were honoured to receive an invitation and Gordon, Jana, Pavel and Richard showed up to enjoy the festivities!


At least one government minister, several ambassadors, senior officials, Czech pop stars and media personalities, sponsors and industry leaders and of course the entire Cardion AB team and Brno Circuit management were on hand!


The non-human star of the night was of course the new Ducati 999cc GP12. On display was the show bike: the actual bike - which the team got to play with last week in Bologna much to their delight! - was winging its way to Malaysia.  (See their press release for technical details)


The Brno MotoGP Hospitality tent (more...) IMHO is simply the best hospitality unit in MotoGP outside the VIP Village.  Events like this launch show why - amazing attention to detail and service. The same team that does the circuit catered and serviced the launch. The food was magnificent!


The entertainment was not bad either! Beginning with a lone violinist opening the affair with sonorous strains of Paganini, we had the girl street dance band Girl-licious; the very popular Czech pop singer Dara Rollins, and the brilliant 50s style stage band The Fireballs! And just to make things a bit fun, the actual serving staff did a dance performance! Yes, these ARE the same staff that will be serving you at our huge opening party and hospitality tent at the Brno MotoGP.


There was a charity auction which sold one of Karel’s helmets (we didn’t buy this for a change - we are waiting for him to win a MotoGP race so we can get a set including the one from his Moto2 victory we already have from the 2011 launch!) There was a cobblestone from the original Brno street circuit signed by Valentino Rossi which auctioned for about €1300!  Leader of the Karel Abraham fan club, Pavel Carda, won an appropriate opportunity to join the start grid at the Brno MotoGP. The auction raised some 140,000 CZK (€5500) for Foundation Emil supporting sports activities for handicapped Czech children.


The evening was a great opportunity for us to catch up with Karel himself and his super-friendly team.  The whole team was featured twice on stage, the second time they were treated to new watches from sponsor Invicta!


This is very much a family team. And while it is easy to say they come from a wealthy background, you cannot take away the skill, diligence and just plain charisma of Karel. Just to prove this is a family with talent, Karel lost a bet with his sister, and as a result  Petra got to sing on stage at his launch. She was superb! A new Czech pop talent?


I think we are going to see a new Ducati out there this year which is great news for the sport as well as cool teams like the Cardion AB gang.


Good luck Karel and team for 2012!  We’ll be there with you!  You have certainly kicked it off in style!



We took a lot of videos & photos at this event - hope you feel like you were ‘almost’ there! (sorry about that last one...:-) Give us a shout if you want to come along next year - we can discuss the possibility with our friends in Brno!


See our Brno 2012 programme - bigger and better than ever!

 

Prague 20 January 2012

All photos ©Pole Position Travel, Gordon Howell