Kallio: This is one of the hardest weekends of my career

Shifting to the old Kalex 2014 chassis for Mugello GP did not deliver the awaited ease for Mika Kallio’s struggle in the Moto2-season of 2015. During the qualifying practice of Saturday Kallio clocked a personal best 1,8 seconds slower than pole setter Sam Lowes. This entitled the Finn to start grid position 23 for the race and Kallio is not at all content, to put it nicely. 

 -We have no clue what’s happening with the bike at the moment. We have been completely lost with the second chassis, even more so than with the previous 2015-version. This seems like a complete and utter catastrophe and I could not feel much worse with the bike than I do now. This is easily one of the most miserable race weekends of my career, Kallio stated. 

 Kallio was able to pull off similar lap times compared to last year during the qualifying practice, but unfortunately this is not the whole truth and according to the rider, not the least bit satisfactory.

 -Even though the lap times display a similar pace compared to last year, we are not where we should be. Other riders demonstrate a significant improvement to lap times and the front guys are over a second faster than last year. The feeling I have with the bike is like night and day compared to last year and I am really struggling with the braking, suspension and tyre grip at the moment, to name a few things. It feels pretty hopeless, Kallio sighed. 

 The lousy results of Friday and Saturday predict radical changes for tomorrow’s race, but what they are to be, remains still unknown. Kallio and his team, Italtrans, are facing yet another long night of furious work to make things right. 

 -We are so far away of the proper feeling and functioning of the bike, that it makes no sense to stay with the current settings. Since we don’t know where the problem lies, we are forced to roll the dice and take a chance on something different. Anything, really. We also have the option to continue working with the 2015 chassis which we are more familiar with, but we have walked that road and with poor results too. It honestly can’t get much more difficult than this and the most frustrating part is that I can’t do anything to fix it. This is unbelievable, Kallio finished with a great sigh. 

 

Results from the Moto2 qualifying practice in Mugello, Italy

1. Sam Lowes 1.51,514

2. Dominique Aegerter + 0,342

3. Tito Rabat + 0,360

4. Thomas Luthi + 0,365

5. Luis Salom + 0,606

 

23. Mika Kallio + 1,819

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