KALLIO ON POLE FOR RED BULL KTM
23 July 2005 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

Red Bull KTM rider Mika Kallio claimed his fourth consecutive pole position with the fastest qualifying time for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

Kallio maintained his place at the top of the time sheets with another brilliant performance in final qualifying. Kallio secured pole position with a fast lap early in the session, thus avoiding the heavy traffic later in final qualifying as his rivals tried to improve their times.

In today’s cool and overcast conditions Kallio cut 0.4s from his provisional pole time set on Friday to almost equal the qualifying record set last year by Andrea Dovizioso.

Meanwhile Red Bull KTM riders Julian Simon and Gabor Talmacsi will start alongside each other on the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s 25 lap race.

Simon has qualified sixth while Talmacsi starts seventh with both riders improving their times from yesterday.

With just two minutes remaining Simon was third fastest but like Talmacsi he faced heavy traffic at the end of the session as he tried for a faster time.

Talmacsi was disappointed to drop down the grid after being fourth in yesterday’s first qualifying session. The Hungarian rider is still not comfortable with his bike set-up for the stop-go hairpin in the final section of the four kilometre Donington circuit.

Talmacsi is currently the joint leader of the world championship with 10 points, equal with Mattia Pasini.

Eleven riders qualified within one second of pole position.

MIKA KALLIO #36 - First - (1’37.295)

“I set my fastest lap early in the session to avoid the heavy traffic with riders waiting for a slipstream tow. Late in the session there were big groups of riders waiting for each other. Again today my KTM engine was very fast, I’m confident for the race and hopefully the track stays dry. The only small problem I have is some front end chatter when I’m pushing in the fast corners.”

JULIAN SIMON #60 - Sixth - (1’37.701)

“I’m happy, my bike was fast and we improved the set-up from yesterday so I’m confident of a strong performance in the race. We still have a couple of things to try in the morning warm-up with the front suspension settings. “

GABOR TALMACSI #14 -Seventh - (1’37.952)

“I’m not so happy because I’m at my maximum to do this lap time so hopefully we can find something extra for the race. The final hairpin and slow corners are the problem, I don’t have a good feeling. Also at the end of the session I was trapped in traffic with a lot of riders.”

HARALD BARTOL - Technical and Managing Director

“Mika did a smart thing, he went alone early in the session and did a fast time to keep pole position. One of the problems for all the riders, including Gabor and Julián, is that they are waiting in groups for each other to do a fast time and then there is too much traffic. “

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