Mika Kallio confident in new Ducati motor

Mika Kallio is confident Ducati’s impressive new GP10 motor will help the Finn establish himself a consistent top ten finisher in MotoGP this year.

Ducati has rolled out a smoother Big Bang engine for the forthcoming season in a bid to help the likes of Kallio and Nicky Hayden get closer to the performance of Australian rider Casey Stoner.  

Kallio finished 15th overall in his rookie campaign last year and he finished in the top ten in over 50 per cent of the races. But the Pramac Ducati is hoping the more manageable Big Bang GP10 will help him find more consistency in the top ten when the new season kicks off in Qatar on April 11. He told MCN: “The main difference is that the engine pushes a bit more from the bottom end and also the mid-range feels a little bit better. 

Rear grip is also better than what we had last year, mainly because the power delivery is different and less aggressive so it is easier to find grip. It also helps the bike become easier to handle and less physical which is also an advantage.

Top power is maybe a little bit less but nothing too big. For the lap time though the new engine is much better because last year I had a lot of problems with rear grip and we had a lot of pumping issues on the exit of the corner, but now it looks a lot better.

One of the big steps has also been the fact that the bike is not bucking and weaving so much under acceleration now. Before we had a lot of movement on the exit of the corner but that’s also down to the power delivery being smoother. For me it feels that we have less power with the engine being smoother but when we look on the data the acceleration is exactly the same.”