Good feeling and good mood for new QMMF rider Mika Kallio
Julian Simon well prepared for his home Grand Prix at Aragón
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 team-mate of Julian Simon. The 32-year-old rider from Finland, who was second in the 125 cc world championship twice in his career and who also finished runner-up in the Moto2 world championship 2014, had a difficult 2015 season so far and seized the new opportunity when QMMF Racing Team and their former rider 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 Aragón next week.
Mika Kallio
“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. The situation is very positive now and I was really happy to jump on this bike. Everybody could see that we struggled a lot with the package what we had. For a number of reasons, there was no chance to continue with Italtrans and to be invited by QMMF Racing to step in was a golden opportunity that came just at the right time for me. 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. I think that’s not bad. Of course we need to improve from now on, but considering it was the first contact with this bike, the results were encouraging and put all of us in a good mood. The problem that I had before with the Kalex was the feeling for the front tyre.. The Speed Up bike felt better, especially in this area. I was worried before this test that of I would jump on this bike and that the problem was still there, because in this case, I wouldn’t have known what to do. That’s why I am so relieved that I have a different feeling for the front tyre now. It’s really promising for me and I am full of motivation to go to Aragón next week and to see what we can do in the race!”
Julian Simon
“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 Aragón next week where we will try to build on our good result at the Misano Grand Prix last Sunday!”