Saturday 22nd May saw the second round of this years’ World Endurance Championship, held at Albacete in Spain. The BK Maco Racing Team wanted to use this 8 hour race to put the bad luck which ruined Le Mans behind them.
The team had two riders at this meeting, Jason Pridmore and Victor Carrasco. The weather was sunny and warm with occasional strong gusty winds. With a pre-season test at the circuit, it was hoped that the motorcycle would be easily set up but this was not the case.
Excellent performances from both riders in practice and qualifying led to Carrasco securing 9th place in Superpole with a fast but cautious lap, not wishing to risk damaging the motorcycle with an 8 hour race to follow later in the day.
At 6.00 pm Pridmore started the race. On the fourth lap of the race Jason avoided a major crash which took down a number of front runners, but we were eventually to become a victim of this crash. After 45 minutes, a stone or debris thrown onto the track by the earlier crash punctured the bikes radiator punching through the protective grill. The bike lost its water and the engine temperature rose immediately forcing the rider to come to the box. The radiator was changed but upon restarting it became apparent that the engine had suffered internal damage, probably a broken head gasket, meaning another early end for BK Maco Racing. After two races this season, two DNF’s both caused by events outside the control of the team.
Denisa Greskova, Team Manager:
„We prepared fully for this event. The whole team worked 100%, determined to put the bad luck from Le Mans behind us. A poor start helped us avoid the disaster on the 4th lap, and we hoped that luck had this time smiled upon us, but the scene of the accident left a lot of dirt on the track, some of which broke our radiator and subsequently damaged the engine. Unfortunately we had to withdraw from no fault of our own and it hurts us. The team experienced another huge disappointment. For our part, we did a great job and I would like to say to our partners / sponsors and the whole team: Thank you for your hard work.”
