IN
THE
WIND
P42
KTM TO WILDCARD AT VALENCIA
K
TM MotoGP test rider Mika
Kallio has confirmed the
team will participate as a wild-
card in the final round of the
2016 MotoGP World Champi-
onship at Valencia in Spain on
November 13.
Kallio and fellow test rider
Thomas Luthi had been partici-
pating in the official MotoGP test
at Spielberg in Austria ahead
of the 2016 Austrian MotoGP,
the two riders surprising many
with the pace of the Austrian
machine in its first outing against
the established teams and rid-
ers.
"I think everyone can be
really satisfied that we're here
with the others. In the end I
think the lap times were on a
good level, quite good," said
Kallio, who has been leading
development on the RC16.
" We tried to follow the others
and see how the bike is behav-
ing and where we are losing
compared to them."
"Around two seconds behind
the fastest guys, at the moment
it's quite good. We still have time
to work before we come to the
Valencia race."
KTM is not the first to wildcard
before their full-time return; Su-
zuki also used the Valencia GP
in 2014 as chance to compare
themselves to the established
order. CN
Kallio can't wait to be
back on the MotoGP
grid—if only for one race.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
KTM
