Kallio picking up pace steadily in Aragon

The Moto2 qualifying practice of Saturday was the first one for Mika Kallio on his new Speed Up bike. Kallio did well considering the circumstances, but the determined Finn had his ambitions a few spots higher than his final qualifying position, 15. The fastest man of the day was Tito Rabat, who was an 0,9 seconds quicker than Kallio. 

-I cannot say that I failed this time, since I have already come a long way on the new bike. What I do know, is that with just a slight personal improvement, I could have started from the third row. This morning I was still among the top ten riders, but the qualifying practice always tends to push the riders to their absolute limits and I haven’t yet found out exactly where my limits stand with this bike, Kallio smiled. 

-I am happy for the progress achieved so far, since we are making steps up all the time and riding feels good. I am quite satisfied with my own work as well, since I have been able to avoid any stupid mistakes and unnecessary crashes while learning how the bike behaves. The team is amazing, they support me really well, Kallio continued. 

Right after the qualifying practice was over Kallio raised some eyebrows by quickly summoning his physiotherapist to check on his wrist, which he hurt in Misano during the race. Despite the current bandages in his arm, the damage suffered is not big and does not stand in the way of racing tomorrow. 

-There has been some pain in the wrist after the crash in Misano and we don’t know exactly what is wrong, but I believe nothing serious at all. I am definitely able to race and have full power in the hand, Kallio ensured. 

During the qualifying session, Kallio did more laps than anyone faster than him on the results list. This was part of a chosen tactic, as the aim was to ride as much as possible to gain valuable mileage on the bike. The hard work paid off and Kallio managed just slightly to top the pace of his teammate, well experienced Julian Simon. 

-We had a good strategy for today. There is no shortcut to finding the best feeling on the bike, I just have to ride it out and learn by doing. We are improving steadily and it is not an easy combination to try to simultaneously develop the bike, and ride top pace for maximum results. I think I did pretty well, considering I barely managed to finish in front of Simon, Kallio continued. 

Kallio has nothing to lose during tomorrow’s race and even though he does not allow high expectations to be set by himself, he is determined to make a good job. 

-It is interesting to see tomorrow where our work has taken us so far. The race pace should be quite ok and the biggest concern is tyre wear, because us and many others will use a soft rear tyre for the race. The grip should be ok, but nobody knows how well the tyre will last. I haven’t ridden this bike for such a long distance yet, so tomorrow will be yet another new situation and learning experience for us. If all goes well and I manage a great start, I will try to make it to the top ten, but that is surely the maximum we can expect for this weekend. If that happens, I will be really satisfied,  Kallio finished with a smile.

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