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KALLIO FINISHES SECOND IN PHOTO FINISH AT SEPANG
Red Bull KTM rider Mika Kallio finished second in a dramatic conclusion to the Malaysian Grand Prix at a heat-soaked Sepang Circuit today. Kallio missed victory by just two thousandths of a second in a photo-finish with world championship rival Thomas Luthi. The result means that Kallio is now eight points behind Luthi in the championship points with four races remaining. Luthi led every lap of the race with Kallio keeping his cool in the early laps, dropping to fourth before beginning his chase of Luthi with eight laps of 19 remaining. Over the final three laps the pair raced together with Kallio making a small mistake on the final lap as he battled for victory. On the run to the finish line Kallio pulled out of Luthi’s slipstream and just missed victory by centimetres. Kallio raced with bruising to his left ankle and leg after a crash in the morning warm-up. Kallio’s Red Bull KTM teammates and Gabor Talmacsi and Julián Simon finished fifth and sixth respectively after racing strongly in the lead group early in the race. Simon made a fast start and was second in the early laps ahead of Kallio and Talmacsi with the KTM trip riding line astern in their chase of Luthi. After Kallio broke clear it was left to Talmacsi and Simon to stage a furious battle with Mattia Pasini and Hector Faubel over the final laps for third place on the podium. Talmacsi missed the podium by just 0.2s! Talmacsi set the fastest lap of the race on lap three. MIKA KALLIO #36 - Second - Championship : 2nd/ 181 points “My plan was to try and pass Luthi on the back straight on the final lap but I made a mistake at second last corner and he pulled small gap. I had a good line in the final corner and opened the gas early but it wasn’t enough. It was very difficult to catch Luthi early in the race, he was very fast, and towards the end my left leg was numb because of the crash. It’s disappointing to be second but eight points is not a lot in the championship--I still have a very good chance.” GABOR TALMACSI #14 - Fifth - Championship : 3rd/ 131 points “Like in Japan I didn’t seem to have enough speed on the straights, it was easy for the others to pass me, plus towards the end of the race I got very tired although I didn’t lose my concentration. In the first section of the lap when I opened the throttle the bike felt nervous. I was happy for a better result here, but I will keep trying.” JULIAN SIMON #60 - Sixth - Championship : 7th/ 107 points “My start and first lap was very good and then I was racing with Mika and Gabor for many laps, trying to catch Luthi. By mid-race my tyre had gone down in performance and my laps times were not consistent. Then Faubel and Pasini arrived and there was a big fight until the finish. I’m happy because Friday was not good day but the team have worked had and this is a good result for me.” Harald Bartol - Technical and Managing Director “Mika crashed in the warm-up and had some pain in his left leg so I told him to take it easy in the he first part of the race and be ready to challenge at the end. he ride a great race, it was avery close finish and he still has a very good chance in the championship.”
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