Arguiñano Racing returns to the World Championship with Cardús

The Arguiñano Racing Team (ART) returns to the World Championship after a year of contesting the Spanish Moto2™ Championship. The popular Basque chef and restaurateur along with technician Ginés Guirado have joined forces in a project that intends to carve out a long term spot in the World Championship, featuring sole rider Ricky Cardus, nephew of former 250cc World Championship runner-up Carlos Cardús, for the 2012 season.

The ART partners—Arguiñano and Guirado—were shareholders of the official Derbi 125cc team in 2009, with riders Pol Espargaró, Efren Vazquez and Joan Olivé. That season, Espargaró won two races and claimed three additional podiums with Olivé contributing one more podium. After a year off, Arguiñano and Guirado decided to continue their passion for motorcycle racing and in 2011 launched a Moto2 team in the CEV (Spanish Championship) with riders Román Ramos and Gastón García. Ramos landed their first podium, a second place, in the penultimate round of the season in Valencia.

"I have followed motorcycle racing for many years. There have been years where I had a team, like in 2009 in the World Championship 125cc class with three riders and this past year we ran Spanish Championship Moto2 class with two riders. And now we have the opportunity to enter the World Championship with a rider like Ricky Cardús, so I think we will have a very good year," said Arguiñano.

"We closed the deal at the start of the preseason; We’ll travel to the Jerez Test this week with a definitive plan, bringing two bikes with us, the Suter and the AJR, so that Ricky can test the equipment thoroughly and then decide on which bike he wants to compete this year," explained Ginés Guirado, partner and team sporting director, who also alluded to the ultimately unsuccessful partnership with Kenny Noyes, the rider initially elected to represent the team: "We had an earlier contract with Kenny Noyes, which was never finalized because his needs didn’t coincide with ours in the end. We wish him well."

23 year old Ricky Cardús recalled the difficulties he faced arranging his future in competition before this project materialized: "I wasn’t able to stay with the QMMF team, but now I am on Karlos Arguiñano’s team and I am more than happy."

"I've been working hard all winter without a clear destination and I've gone from having nothing to having a very exciting proposal, the most exciting one in my career. The first step is the Test this next week in Jerez. I have two options for which bike to use and won’t rule out either, I have to try everything first and then draw conclusions. So, thank you to Karlos and Ginés for their confidence - I won’t disappoint them," concluded Cardús.