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
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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 - ninth 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!"
KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG, Mattighofen, Austria, www.ktm.com
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