TWO KTMS IN THE FIRST ROW - RR WCH 125
23 September 2006 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

Round 15 - Grand Prix Japan/ Motegi - 2nd Qualifying

Both KTMs, ridden by Mika Kallio and Julian Simon, will start Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, the 15th round of competition for the season, on the front row of the grid.

Mika Kallio, with a practice time of 1’57.510, improved on his 2005 times by more than 1.5 seconds to put his KTM FRR 125 on the second position in the front row for Sunday’s race. Julian Simon, the 19-year-old Spaniard, who has shown excellent results over the entire weekend, starts the race at fourth grid position.

Coming directly on the heels of races in Malaysia/Sepang and Australia/ Phillip Island, Sunday’s race concludes the trio in the southern hemisphere before the season winds up with races in Portugal and Spain respectively.

In 2005, Red Bull KTM’s Mika Kallio of Finland celebrated his fourth victory on his KTM here in Motegi. Now, in the third last race of the season, the 22-year-old will do everything he can to repeat his excellent performance from last year. Lying second in the 125 cc class World Championship, he describes the 4,801 meter-long Motegi circuit as technically very challenging. The circuit features long straights and predominantly tight sharp corners, which lends it a real squared characteristic. It was the right choice of line when braking hard and the fastest possible acceleration coming out of the corners that was decisive for best training times.

Motegi is new territory for Red Bull KTM Juniors Michael Ranseder and Blake Leigh-Smith, riding as replacement for the injured Stefan Bradl (fracture of his left shinbone in Malaysia).
Both riders improved lap for lap but still need to gain experience on this circuit. The juniors start at place 28 for Michael Ranseder and place 33 for Blake Leigh-Smith.

Mika Kallio # 36 Red Bull KTM GP 125 – 2nd Position – 1’57.510
“Practice went ok. The time we did was very good, more than 1.5 seconds faster than last year, but sometimes I get frustrated and even bit annoyed that I’m always second. This year the 125cc championship seems tougher than last year. Compared to 2005 at Motegi I think the biggest improvement with my KTM has been with the engine and we have also found a good setup for our suspension.”

Julian Simon # 60 Red Bull KTM GP 125 – 4th Position – 1’58.225
“We worked very well in all the practice sessions at Motegi and I really happy with the 4th place on the grid, which is my third front row position this year. I had a little bit pain in my leg and also in the shoulder after a crash in the morning session, but I was still fast even though I had some problems coming out of some corners. We will try one more solution during the warm-up Sunday morning and then I believe I can put in a good race and a good result for my team”

Michael Ranseder # 9 Red Bull KTM Junior Team – 28th Position – 2’00.699
“It’s difficult to ride a meaningful race gird position 28. We made some alterations to the chassis in the morning so that I can come out of the sharp corners more easily. But by doing this we went in the wrong direction. I slipped twice over the front wheel during free training for qualifying and then we went back to the old setting. Then I was a bit faster but not good enough. I lost a bit of time in every corner and at the end it amounted to seconds. I learn more with every lap.”

Blake Leigh-Smith # 67 Red Bull KTM Junior Team – 33rd Position – 2’01.315
“It’s a bit easier for me at Motegi being on the bike for the second time after the GP at Phillip Island last week. Ok, the circuit is new and it is my first time in Japan, but when I go out on the KTM I understand the bike much better. But even so, I don’t know what happened during the first few laps in qualifying. I was running too wide. It was heaps better after we changed to different tyres. What I had to work on most at this track was to slow down going into the corners. Breaking earlier did help me to accelerate faster out of the corners. Tomorrow I’ll try to put in a good start and stay with the guys.''

Circuit: dry/ 23°C
Air Temperature: 37°C
Humidity: 23%

GP 125 Race on Sunday, 24th September at 11.00 local time
Time difference: Motegi = GMT +9 / CET +7

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