Mika Kallio · Biography

In the middle of the 2003 season, Mika Kallio left the Honda he had been racing in the 125cc World Championship and joined the Red Bull KTM squad. That move shaped the rest of his career. Born on 8 November 1982 in Valkeakoski, Finland, he spent most of his Grand Prix years tied to the Austrian manufacturer: on a KTM he twice finished runner-up in the 125cc class, won races in 250cc and later became the lead test rider of its MotoGP project. In between he raced a Ducati in MotoGP and finished second in the 2014 Moto2 World Championship.

Early years in Finland

Kallio began road racing in 1997. A year later he won the Finnish road racing championship, and he kept collecting results at home in 1999 and 2000, the season in which he also became Nordic champion. Like his older brother Vesa, also a motorcycle racer, he combined tarmac with ice racing, taking Finnish ice racing titles in the 125cc class in 2000, 2004 and 2005, and in the 500cc class in 2004 and 2006.

125cc: from Ajo's Honda to KTM

His World Championship debut came as a wildcard at the 2001 German Grand Prix with Team Red Devil Honda, run by Aki Ajo. In 2002 he contested his first full season and finished 11th with 78 points, enough to be named rookie of the year. In 2003 he switched to KTM during the season and earned his first podium, second place at the Malaysian Grand Prix, ending the year 11th again. 2004 was harder, with eight retirements and tenth place overall.

The step forward came in 2005. Kallio took his first pole position and first win at Estoril, added three more victories and fought for the title until the last round: he finished runner-up with 237 points, five behind Thomas Lüthi. In 2006 he won three races and scored 262 points, second again, this time behind Álvaro Bautista. He left the class with seven wins, 23 podiums and 12 poles.

Wins in the 250cc class

KTM moved him up to 250cc for 2007. In his first year in the intermediate class he won the wet Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi and closed the season by passing Alex de Angelis on the final laps to win at Valencia, finishing seventh overall. In 2008 he won three more races, including Donington Park, and finished third in the championship with 196 points, behind champion Marco Simoncelli. His 250cc record stood at five wins and ten podiums from 33 starts.

MotoGP with Ducati

In 2009 Kallio stepped up to the premier class with Pramac Racing on a Ducati. He was the top rookie of the year, finished 15th with 71 points and raced three Grands Prix for the factory Ducati Marlboro team as Casey Stoner's stand-in. The 2010 season with Pramac brought 43 points and 17th place, and the team did not retain him for 2011.

Moto2 and the 2014 runner-up spot

He rebuilt his career in Moto2 with Marc VDS. In 2011, on a Suter, he took second place at Valencia and finished 16th. Switching to a Kalex in 2012, he was sixth, with a second place at the Sachsenring. In 2013 he won the Czech Grand Prix at Brno, his first victory in five years, and finished fourth. 2014 was his best Moto2 season: three wins, two of them back to back at Jerez and Le Mans, and 289 points, second overall behind his teammate Esteve Rabat. His win at Indianapolis that year took him to 16 Grand Prix victories, one more than Jarno Saarinen, the previous Finnish record holder.

In 2015 he joined Italtrans Racing alongside Franco Morbidelli. After a fourth place in Argentina and four retirements in seven races, his contract was cancelled by mutual agreement after Misano in September. He finished the season with QMMF Racing on a Speed Up, scoring points in all five remaining rounds, and placed 15th with 72 points.

KTM's MotoGP test rider

On 27 October 2015 KTM named him lead test rider for its MotoGP project. He gave the RC16 its race debut as a wildcard at Valencia in 2016, where he retired. In 2017 he made four wildcard appearances; his tenth place in Austria was the team's best result of the season and the first time a KTM finished a premier-class race less than 20 seconds behind the winner. In July 2018 he suffered a serious knee injury in a crash during his wildcard at the Sachsenring, and KTM brought in Randy de Puniet as test rider for the rest of that year.

In September 2019 KTM ended its deal with Johann Zarco and gave his factory bike to Kallio from Aragón to the end of the season; he scored seven points in six races, with 12th at Valencia as his best finish. In 2020 he replaced Iker Lecuona at Red Bull KTM Tech3 and finished 17th at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Between 2001 and 2020 he made 247 Grand Prix starts, with 16 wins, 49 podiums and 18 pole positions.