Kallio chases better chassis set-up for Catalunya 250cc
GP
 Red
Bull KTM 250 star Mika Kallio ran into unexpected problems
in practice for the Catalunya Grand Prix and finished the
final practice session back in ninth position.
The 25-year-old world championship leader was chasing a better
chassis set-up on his bike, but still hasn't found the right
solution. He was forced to settle for a third row starting
position despite slight improvements on his lap times. Factory
team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama suffered a crash early on in this
afternoon's final qualifying and wasn't able to improve on
his lap time. Aoyama, the 26-year-old from Chiba, Japan, lives
in Barcelona during the season and considers the Catalunya
Grand Prix his second home race. He is eighth on the grid
for Sunday's GP and is still confident of getting a strong
result.
Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM 250 - ninth in 1:46.952)
"We had a lot of problems here on this track right from
the beginning. I didn't get the right feeling for the front
of the bike but even though we tried everything we could,
nothing helped. We tried stiffer settings on the front for
the final qualifier and this helped me a bit on the brakes
and on the corner entries. The downside was I then started
to suffer with a lack of rear wheel grip. We are now 1.3 seconds
behind the front and it is going to be hard to fight for a
good position in the race. Of course we keep trying. We haven't
exhausted all of our options, so I still hope we will be able
to turn things around for the race!"
Hiroshi Aoyama (Red Bull KTM 250 - eighth in 1:46.856)
"We had a good start this weekend, but we tried some
more options with the chassis set-up for final qualifying
and I no longer had the same feeling for the bike. I pushed
anyway and obviously I obviously pushed just that little bit
too much and lost the front. It wasn't a bad crash, I am perfectly
okay, but I still didn't manage to get back my rhythm with
the other bike. Even though, I am confident for the race -
we will use the previous set-up as the base for tomorrow and
take it from there!"
Harald Bartol (Technical Director)
"We keep looking to find the right set-up for Mika. All
I can say at this moment is that we will work hard and that
we all hope to turn things around for the race."
De Rosa fastest KTM rider ahead of Catalunya GP
Italy's Raffaele de Rosa of the Onde 2000 KTM team was the
KTM 125 rider in qualifying ahead of Sunday's Catalunya GP.
The 21-year-old from Naples who won his first career pole
position last weekend at home in Italy, ended a tight and
incident packed final practice session in twelfth position,
closely followed by 15-year-old Spanish Grand Prix rookie
Marc Marquéz who finished fourteenth. On the way to
his best practice performance so far, Marquéz, the
young Repsol KTM rider, not only mastered the challenges of
the fast and demanding 4.7 km circuit, but also managed to
stay focussed despite the initial uncertainty after the accident
of his team-mate Esteve Rabat.
Rabat on the road to recovery
The 20-year-old crashed on Friday in turn ten at only 80 km/h,
but still suffered a heavy blow to his head. He suffered concussion
and a suspected brain oedema and was hospitalised and sedated.
Fortunately Rabat woke up on Saturday happy and well. Unable
to convince doctors to release him, he is still expected to
make a full recovery and rejoin his team shortly.
Krummenacher optimistic ahead of Sunday's GP
Red Bull KTM 125 rider Randy Krummenacher, who had celebrated
his first ever podium finish in Catalunya one year ago, qualified
in eighteenth position and is convinced that he can contribute
much more in Sunday's race. "Yesterday I didn't seem
to have any rear tyre grip at all and it was impossible for
me to get up to speed. But today we managed to improve the
set-up a lot," the Swiss rider said. "This morning
I was finally able to handle the bike the way I want to and
my lap times started to come down. We used the same settings
again this afternoon, but my idea of braking much later and
opening the throttle earlier on the corner exits didn't work
out. I even tried to follow Pol Espargaro for a fast lap,
but I couldn't match his speed. We are now trying to find
some additional chassis stability that will allow me to brake
later and accelerate harder. If we can do that, I still should
be able to ride a good race. I started from fifteenth position
on the grid last yea r and finished on the podium, and eighteenth
today isn't that much further behind!"
Harald Bartol (Technical Director)
"The best news of the day came from Esteve Rabat. He
obviously is on his way to a quick recovery, which takes a
huge weight off my mind. We all send him our very best wishes!"
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