Mika Kallio has replaced Anthony West in the QMMF Racing Team.
Agencies
San Marino
After the successful Misano Grand Prix, QMMF Racing Team opened a new chapter in its history, with Mika Kallio completing a promising first day of testing as the new teammate of Julian Simon.
The 32-year-old rider from Finland, who was second in the 125cc world championship twice in his career and who also finished runner-up in the Moto2 world championship in 2014, had a difficult 2015 season so far and seized the new opportunity when QMMF Racing Team and Anthony West decided to go separate ways after the Misano race.
Even though Kallio had never tried the Speed Up prototype before, he was able to match his previous lap times on the Misano circuit almost straight away and left the track encouraged and with high motivation for the races to come.
In the meantime, Julian Simon was busy evaluating evolution parts for next year’s Speed Up prototype and also carried out important suspension and tyre tests with his current bike. After celebrating fifth place in the Misano Grand Prix, the 28-year-old Spaniard has high hopes for his home race at Aragon next week.
“First of all, I want to thank the federation of Qatar and the entire QMMF Racing Team for the chance to try the Speed Up bike and to compete for them from now on until the end of the season. I also want to thank my former team Italtrans for finding a solution to separate in a good way,” Kallio said.
“The situation is very positive now and I was really happy to jump on this bike. Now, after doing the first laps on the Speed Up, I can see that the bike is really, really different to the Kalex that I rode over the last four years. It’s a big change for me, but things took a turn to the better almost immediately, as I could match my previous lap times, even though I was on the track for only two sessions.”
Simon added: “The weather was patchy with occasional rain showers, but I was still able to try a new chassis, which we were testing for next year’s version of the Speed Up bike. It’s very good and has high potential, but I couldn’t do times similar to my qualifying results because of the track conditions and the wind. But anyway, I had a good feeling. I also tried different suspension settings and many different tyres, especially hard compounds. I am happy because I did good lap times again. Now I look forward to my home race at Arag?n next week where we will try to build on our good result at the Misano Grand Prix last Sunday.”
