Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) is ready to line up in P20 on the MotoGP™ grid at the season finale in Valencia, as the Finnish veteran took the all-new KTM RC16 through a successful qualifying and made some big steps forward after a tough Friday. Faster than two regulars on the grid, the Finn was satisfied with the steps made on Saturday – and feels one-lap pace should lag behind that of long-run pace; promising for the race.
Incredibly, the laptime from the new RC16 is only eight tenths of a second slower than the Race Lap record at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo – set by Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo in 2015 on the way to his fifth world title.
Mika Kallio (P20): “Yesterday we weren’t happy how we started the weekend and the laptime wasn’t where we should have been. We knew where we should be and we’ve demonstrated that we could improve the laptime and there are guys behind us now – so we can fight with them, which is important for the race. I’m really satisfied by the laps we did, because there were a few good laps and not just one. We’ve improved the spinning from yesterday but this is one point where we could do more – we’ll try and work more in Warm Up to see if we can find something for that. After Warm Up we’ll see because at the moment we’re not sure which solution we will do. But I think we’re better over a longer distance than just one lap – so I’m confident we can do better in the race than today.”