Mika Kallio

Mika Kallio
Nationality	Finnish
Born	(1982-11-08) 8 November 1982[1] Valkeakoski, Finland
Current team	KTM Test Team
Bike number	36
Website	mikakallio.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2009–2010, 2016 Manufacturers Ducati, KTM Championships 0 2016 championship position NC (0pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 33 0 0 0 0 114 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2011–2015 Manufacturers Suter, Kalex, Speed Up Championships 0 2015 championship position 15th (72 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 87 4 16 4 4 740 250cc World Championship Active years 2007–2008 Manufacturers KTM Championships 0 2008 championship position 3rd (196 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 33 5 10 2 4 353 125cc World Championship Active years 2001–2006 Manufacturers Honda, KTM Championships 0 2006 championship position 2nd (262 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 82 7 23 12 4 751

Mika Kallio (born 8 November 1982) is a Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He debuted in the 125cc World Championship with the Finnish rookie team Ajo Motorsport in 2001 and was awarded the "Rookie of the Year" in 2002. After moving to Red Bull KTM during the 2003 season, he finished runner-up in the class in 2005 and 2006.

In his first year with KTM in the 250cc class, Kallio took two wins and finished seventh. In 2008, he led the championship throughout the first half of the season, eventually having to settle for third place. For the 2009 season, he moved to the MotoGP (800cc) class, racing on a Ducati Desmosedici GP9 for Ducati's satellite team Pramac Racing where he finished 15th in his first season in the top class and obtained the "Rookie of the Year" award. However 2010 was less successful, struggling with injury and lack of confidence, resulting in a lowly 17th.

Kallio looked to rediscover his form, competing in the Moto2 World Championship for the Marc VDS Racing Team over the next four seasons, riding a Suter in 2011, but would end the first season in 16th. A switch to the Kalex frame from 2012 led to marked improvement in results over the next few seasons. The Finn finishing 2012 in 6th place, improving to 4th overall in 2013, and later mounting a strong title challenge throughout 2014, eventually having to settle for runners up position.

2015 saw a switch to the Italtrans team, but, disappointing results led to a mid season switch to the QMMF Racing Team for the remaining five rounds.

In 2016, the Finn took time out from full-time racing, as he returned to KTM, to become their lead test rider for the new MotoGP project, commencing in 2017.

With 16 Grand Prix wins across all classes, Kallio is Finland's most successful rider in Grand Prix history.

Career

Domestic

Born in Valkeakoski, Kallio started racing in 1997 and won the Finnish championship in road racing with further success in 1999 and 2000. During 2000, he also became the Nordic champion after finishing second in the previous year.

While Kallio pursued his road racing goals, the Finn has also scored plenty of success in ice racing back home in Finland, having achieved the Finnish motorcycle ice racing championship in 2000, 2004 and 2005 in the 125cc class. At 500cc level, Kallio also won the title in 2004 and 2006.

125cc (2001–2006)

Kallio made his debut in the 125cc World Championship as a wildcard rider at the 2001 German Grand Prix. Continuing with Ajo Motorsport and the Honda RS125R for a full season in 2002, he finished as the Rookie of the Year. Halfway through the 2003 season, Kallio switched to Red Bull KTM, KTM's factory team. He immediately took his career-best fourth place in Czech Republic. The highlight of 2003 was his first-ever class podium, a second place at Sepang behind Dani Pedrosa.

Kallio racing with his KTM bike.

After a 2004 season filled with bike reliability issues, Kallio took his first championship pole position and victory at the second round of the 2005 season at Estoril. He went on to take seven more poles and three more wins and lost the world title by just five points to Thomas Lüthi. He lost five points at the fourth-last Grand Prix in Qatar when his KTM team-mate, Gábor Talmácsi, pulled out from behind the slipstream and passed him on the last few metres of the race to take the win by 0.017 seconds.^[2] Kallio had started from pole position and led every lap of the race and was not pushing on the home straight anymore, as Talmácsi had been ordered to stay back by the team because he was not a title contender.^[3] Talmácsi was fired after the season finale at Valencia.

Kallio's 125cc KTM bike.

In 2006, Kallio was again a challenger for the 125 cc title. Although he produced his best season to date, the young Finn was outshone by Spain's Álvaro Bautista and while he tried to hang onto the Spaniard, he was forced to settle for the runner-up spot once again, although he did finish a full 65 points ahead of the third position. Kallio scored three victories, four pole positions and 11 podiums during the 2006 campaign. At the end of the year, viewers of the Finnish motorsport television series Ruutulippu voted Kallio the Finnish Motorsportsman of the Year for the second year running.^[4] He collected 33.1% of all votes and pipped enduro world champion Samuli Aro, WRC runner-up Marcus Grönholm and F1 star Kimi Räikkönen.

250cc (2007–2008)

For the 2007 season, Kallio moved up to KTM's squad in the 250cc category alongside Japan's Hiroshi Aoyama. After a difficult start to the season with mechanical woes at Qatar and Spain, Kallio would consistently be fighting around the top six positions. The turning point of the season would be at Germany, where Kallio took his debut pole position and podium finish in the class for come home in 2nd behind team mate Aoyama to cap a fine 1–2 for KTM. A third place followed at the Czech Republic, although a nasty highside at San Marino, and more mechanical problems at Portugal were to slow his progress.

However the Finn would capture his first 250cc class victory at the rain-soaked Japanese race, and later added to his tally at the final round in Valencia, fending off Alex de Angelis on the final lap. He ended the season with two pole positions, two wins, four podiums and two fastest laps to place him seventh in the standings with 157 points.

Kallio remained at KTM for 2008. A strong start to the season saw a third place at the season opener under the floodlights of Qatar. A fortunate win at Jerez, Spain after title rivals Álvaro Bautista and Marco Simoncelli crashed out together on the final lap. Another solid third place at Portugal, before continuing his strong run with a masterful victory in China under tricky conditions. Kallio had built up a strong lead in the championship but his luck would soon change. After difficult races in France and Italy, the latter hampered by clutch issues at the start of the race, his bad luck continued in Catalunya when his bike broke down, and almost crashed on his return to the pits. His healthy lead in the standings had simply vanished.

His woes seemed to continue at Donington Park after qualifying only 14th. However, he passed one rider after another to jump up right to the head of the field to take a surprise victory. It were to be his final win in 250s. The KTM riders could not keep up with the pace of Piaggio riders and his title challenge was over in Australia, having been passed by eventual champion Simoncelli and Bautista a few races before. He did however make a long-awaited return to the podium in third place, beating off fellow KTM rider Julián Simón to the line.

A forgettable race in Malaysia was followed by an accident in the final round at Valencia. Having been the only rider to keep pace with the new world champion, Simoncelli, Kallio was pushing to the limit to keep up and launch an attack on the final lap. However, he crashed half way round the final lap and slowly came home in an 11th place. He wrapped up the year to finish third overall with 196pts. It included three victories, three more podiums and two fastest laps, although he did not score a single pole position.

MotoGP (2009–2010)

Kallio at the 2010 British Grand Prix.

On 19 October 2008, Kallio was announced as part of the new Pramac Racing lineup for 2009 in Moto GP alongside Italian Niccolò Canepa. Kallio was provided with the latest spec Ducati Desmosedici GP9 ensuring equality for the satellite teams and the factory squad.^[5]

His MotoGP career started brightly with two eighth places from the opening two rounds at Qatar and Motegi. During much of the season however would be blighted with several accidents, most notably from strong positions. At the Dutch TT at Assen, Kallio crashed out of sixth place and burnt his finger down to the bone, losing the top section.^[6] He missed the race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but was back in action at the Sachsenring in Germany,^[7] racing with a special custom-made glove to accommodate a bandage.

On 10 August 2009, when Casey Stoner announced that he would miss the next three races due to health problems, Kallio was called in to replace Stoner at the Ducati Marlboro team.^[8] Once his stint in place of Stoner was over, Kallio returned to Pramac for the final four races of the season. He continued to show his talents with three more top ten finishes, although he missed out on a potential top six finish at Estoril after another front end accident. Overall though, it had been a positive debut season in the top class and his points tally rewarded him with the title of "Rookie of the Year".

On 30 September 2009 Kallio announced that he had signed a new one-year contract with Pramac Ducati that would see him ride for the team in the 2010 season.^[9]

The 2010 season would prove to be an extremely difficult season for Kallio. His new team-mate Aleix Espargaró, gave Kallio a harder time and would usually match or outpace him. Kallio would only pick up just two top ten finishes throughout the whole season, an impressive seventh at Jerez from the back of the grid and ninth at Laguna Seca. But on a whole, it was a general disappointment.

On 17 October 2010, Kallio announced that he would not be competing in the final two rounds of the 2010 season due to a shoulder injury that he had been riding with, since Le Mans in May. A lack of confidence as well with the Ducati also contributed to his lack of results. As a result, Kallio and Pramac parted company as he had not been offered a 2011 contract by the team.^[10]

Moto2 (2011–2015)

On 7 November 2010, it had been announced that Kallio would move down a category to Moto2, teaming up with the Suter-run Marc VDS Racing Team alongside British rider Scott Redding for 2011.^[11] He finished fourth in the 2013 season and second in the 2014 season.

Return to MotoGP (2016–)

KTM confirmed Kallio as their lead test rider on October 27, 2015, for the upcoming MotoGP project, in preparation for the 2017 season.^[12]

Despite missing out on a full-time race return for the 2017 season, Kallio would at least be rewarded for his testing efforts. A wildcard race entry was granted at the 2016 finale in Valencia, marking his first race back in the premier class, since 2010.^[13]

Personal

He has an older brother named Vesa, who is also a motorcycle racer. Finnish software house Tracebit also produced a mobile phone game based around Kallio, called 'Mika Kallio GP'.^[14]

Career statistics

MotoGP career statistics

By class

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

• Official website