Nephew of former 250cc World Championship runner-up Carlos Cardus, Ricard ‘Ricky’ Cardus started racing supermoto at the age of 14 and in 2004 entered the Movistar Junior Cup. 2005 saw the Spaniard make his 125cc debut and from 2006 to 2008 he contested the CEV Buckler (Spanish National Championship) 125cc category, riding three wildcard World Championship entries as well. The following year, Cardus rode in the supersport class of the CEV, moving up to its Moto2™ format in 2010. His form saw him brought in as a substitute for Bernat Martínez in the Stop and Go World Championship team for the second half of the season, and in 2011 he joined the championship for his first full campaign with the Qatari Federation’s QMMF Racing Team. Cardus switched to the Argiñano Racing Team for 2012, finishing 28th overall. With a switch to the NGM Mobile Forward Racing team for 2013 he finished 23rd overall. For 2014, he moved to Tech3, again in the Moto2™ class, as substitute to injured fellow countryman Alex Mariñelarena – and stayed with Tech 3 for 2015. After being replaced in the Tech3 team midseason, Cardus took over from Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot in the JPMoto Racing Team starting from the Czech GP. Cardus scored a solid sixth in the wet Japanese GP and remained with JPMoto for 2016, though this time aboard a Kalex. A new project then saw the Spaniard take on testing duties for KTM as the Austrian factory debuted a new intermediate class chassis with Red Bull KTM Ajo - and Cardus also stepped in as injury replacement for recovering Brad Binder in a number of races.