Mika Kallio bemoans practice cuts

MotoGP rookie Mika Kallio fears the big reduction in practice time will seriously hinder his bid to be immediately competitive in 2009.

As part of a range of cost-cutting measures to counter the global economic crisis, Friday morning’s free practice session has been scrapped and the other three sessions – including qualifying – have been reduced from 60 to 45 minutes.

The reduction in track time will certainly hurt the likes of Finnish rider Kallio and Pramac Ducati team-mate Niccolo Canepa, who need as much time as possible to adapt to the demands of riding an 800cc MotoGP machine. 

Former KTM 250GP rider Kallio, who has 12 world championship victories to his credit, told MCN: “For sure it is going to be really bad for me. I know most of the tracks but with this bike you feel like every track is almost new. It is sad that they cancelled Friday morning practice because I need as much time as possible to learn.”