First shots of Mika Kallio back out on track with the Marc VDS team at the Moto2 testing session in Valencia [photo from garethbouch twitter account]

How long has Mika Kallio been gone for? I thought it was just two races, but by the look of that beard he looks like he’s been missing for a couple of years and was found living feral in a homemade shelter in a Finnish forest.

Anyway, despite the questionable beard – Mika Kallio will be back out on track today as a Moto2 rider for Marc VDS. Kallio will partner with Scott Redding for the 2011 Moto2 season.

Kallio’s choice to join Marc VDS was influenced by their future MotoGP aspirations with Mika Kallio himself saying “The fact that the Marc VDS Racing Team are committed to stepping up to the MotoGP class in the future is also a very positive thing”.

Michael Bartholemy: Team Manager
“We are very happy to have signed a rider of Mika’s undoubted calibre. His track record in Grand Prix racing is an enviable one and he knows what it takes to fight for a World Championship, having done so in the 125cc class. Mika’s experience will be invaluable to Scott Redding as he continues to develop as a rider and I’m confident that, together, they will form a formidable partnership in 2011.”

Mika Kallio #36:
“I had quite a few options in Moto2 for next year, but with Marc VDS I know I’ve found the right team for me. Their results in the second half of the season show clearly that they are one of the top teams on the grid and with them I know I can make good results next year. I’m sure there are some people who think this is a step backwards for me career wise, but I disagree. I think it is a great opportunity for me and I know that with this team I can be back at the front once again. The fact that the Marc VDS Racing Team are committed to stepping up to the MotoGP class in the future is also a very positive thing for me, as I still feel I have unfinished business there. Now I just need to get a feel for the Suter MMX, starting tomorrow morning with my first test aboard the bike.”

Marc van der Straten: President, Marc VDS Racing Team
“In Mika we have an experienced campaigner who is still hungry for success. We spoke to a lot of riders about 2011, but Mika’s determination made him the stand out choice for me. Tomorrow Mika celebrates his 28th birthday by riding our bike for the first time at Valencia and I am confident it will not take him long to make the transition to the Suter MMX Moto2 machine. Mika will be the second Finn to join Marc VDS family, as his compatriot Markus Palttala already contests the GT1 World Championship in one of our Ford GT cars.”

Kallio managed to finish in 11th position in a race that was once again severely depleted of riders due to Loris Capirossi and Dani Pedrosa pulling out of the race with injury.

Aleix Espargaro had a solid performance and finished in 8th position after a lengthy battle with Marco Melandri.

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“We are pleased with how things went today. After two races to forget we’ve got two good results that give us great confidence in our assets for the last two races of the season. Today’s result acquires more importance because it was obtained with both riders in not perfect physical condition. This morning we tried a couple of technical solutions during the warm up, we then used this set up during the race, we knew that Ducati has a good performance on this track and we made our best to be able to made the riders lead the race in the best way. ”

Aleix Espargarò – 8th
“What a great race, I am happy for the final result. Being back in the top ten in these conditions is a good thing. This morning after the warm up I had a little pain in my forearm and in my inflamed wrist. Before the race I had an acupuncture treatment in the mobile clinic that has helped me to feel less pain during the race. My start was not the best, after the first corner I lost three positions. Fortunately, in a couple of laps, when my tyres came up to the right temperature, I lowered my lap time and I overtaken some riders who were ahead of me. I then reduced the gap I had from Melandri in just three laps. Once I reached the Italian rider I started a brawl with him that we have continued until the last straight. I managed to end the race in eighth position by a breath. I am satisfied with how things went, especially when I think to the two previous races in which I could not be competitive as I wanted. Now I’ll have a week off in which I hope to resolve my physical problems and be back in top form for the next Portugal Grand Prix.”

Mika Kallio – 11th
“What a pity, I am very sorry for the final position. By a narrow margin, less than 3 cents of a second, I could not close the race in the tenth position. The disappointment is even greater when I think about the fact that I was in the tenth position for almost the entire race. Returning to the race, my start was not the best but I have limited the damage, I was in twelfth place after the first round. Then on the fifth lap I managed to climb to the tenth position. I kept my pace consistently fast for about ten laps, this allowed me to be very close to my teammate and to Melandri. Unfortunately, over the course of the race the shoulder pain was aggravated and with for that reason my pace lap has suffered greatly. With four laps to go I was overtaken by Bautista, an in the next lap I was overtaken also by De Puniet. But thanks to an excellent last lap I managed to overtake Bautista. Too bad because my final gap from De Puniet, and from the tenth position, was less than 3 cents, a real blow and I finished the race in eleventh position. “

Mika Kallio managed to secure his best qualifying position in what seems ike an eternity by taking 12th position in what could be his last race for the Pramac Ducati team.

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“We can feel quite satisfied with how our riders finished the qualifying session today. I’m sure that if the rain had not stopped Mika, he could have done even better. We have both riders in the fourth row and this will be a good opportunity for us in the case of good start to remain with the fastest riders since the first turn. A big question mark for tomorrow’s race, beyond the technical choices, will be the weather conditions. Anything can happen.”

Aleix Espargarò – 11th, best lap time in 1’32.542
“Every time I left the pit box after about three or four laps, I felt pain in my right wrist and this didn’t allow me to handle the brakes as I should. This was very risky and did not allowed me to push hard. I received some medical check up and there seems nothing to worry about even if I, as a precaution, will undergo some treatments tomorrow morning. For tomorrow I would like the track to be either fully wet or dry. The middle situation on this circuit becomes very complicated to deal with.”

Mika Kallio – 12th, best lap time in 1’32.816
“Despite the pain in my left shoulder we have given all we could and things worked out quite well. We were going to improve further more but the rain has stopped me. Too bad, but this result gives me good confidence for tomorrow’s race. We have found bike’s best set up for tomorrow’s race, even though, of course, it will all depend on the track conditions we will find.”

Mika Kallio 11th fastest lap time in 1’44 .170
“Riding my bike with the shoulder in these conditions becomes increasingly difficult, riding it on a wet track is even more difficult. I’m quite happy because I was able to reduce my lap time in the last minute. Certain the gap from the former riders cannot enjoy myself much, but I am still confident for tomorrow’s qualifying, where we will try to limit the damage and gain a good starting position for Sunday’s Grand Prix. ”

Aleix Espargarò 15th fastest lap time in 1’48 .127
“With today’s weather condition I tried to go fast while avoiding taking excessive risk and this does not helped me to be very fast. The gap from the first rider is huge, but I do not give much importance to this think, also because I hope that tomorrow the weather conditions are getting better so that I can be able to fight for a good starting position. “

Kallio has had a torrid season so far – he has suffered with injury and has had poor results on his Pramac Ducati, regularly finishing in last place and being beaten by his less experienced team-mate Aleix Expargaro.

Rumours suggest that Kallio will leave the Pramac Ducati team after this weekend’s Phillip Island MotoGP to take the rest of the season off to recover from his lingering shoulder injury and will be replaced by Carlos Checa.

Checa himself has added more fuel to this rumour by posting a video of himself testing the satellite Desmosedici at Mugello – see the video below.

Kallio looks set to be heading to Moto2 for next season in a bid to resurrect his career.

Carlos Checa testing the satellite Desmosedici at Mugello:

Possibly more alarming is that GPOne are reporting that Pramac Ducati will be scaling back their MotoGP efforts and are going to run only one bike next season with Loris Capirossi as the rider. This news has not yet been confirmed via an official press announcement however.

This will be a huge blow for the series as it is looking increasingly likely that Suzuki are due to announce a one bike team for 2011 (with Alvaro Bautista) and Interwetten Honda are strongly rumoured to be close to pulling out of the 2011 season due to financial issues.

The Pramac Ducati team reflect back on the Malaysian MotoGP below:

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“The physical conditions and the hot weather have certainly not helped Mika’s race. This morning during the warm up, we had further reduced the gap we had accused yesterday by the best riders, but this was not enough for our riders to fight for better positions. Too bad for Aleix’s race. He was considerably reducing his lap pace when he lost the front of his bike. From the television we have seen that he should not have had problems, we will investigate to understand what happened. From Tuesday we’ll return to work hard for the next Australian Grand Prix.”

Mika Kallio – 15th in the race
“What a difficult race. I won three positions thanks to a good start, but I still finished the first round in the last position. On the third lap I was struggling with my teammate, who did have a better lap pace than mine. Together we repaired the gap from Barberą. On the fifteenth lap I passed Hector, but the shoulder pain and excessive heat did not allow me to maintain my position unchanged. With three laps to go I was overtaken by Barberą. I finished the race in twelfth place that is not a good position, but with my physical condition I could not hope to a better position. ”

Aleix Espargaro – DFN
“I’m very disappointed and sad about how things went, despite a quite good start, I managed not to lose positions. But in the early rounds my tires were not in temperature and I could not get a good lap pace. From the third round I have seen that the grip was still significantly increased. My pace was good enough to try to overtake some positions, during the sixth lap, I first overtake Barberą and then my team-mate Mika Kallio. Just after passing him, in a corner change of direction, the bike slipped away. Fortunately, it didn’t turn off, but unfortunately the handlebar was broken. Too bad because with so many drops and withdrawals in the today’s race, I could gain a position among the top ten. The important thing is now to return to work in the best way to be ready for the next Australian Grand Prix that will take place next Sunday. “

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“We worked on both bikes to identify new technical solutions that could be able to allow both riders to be fast in all track sectors. Unfortunately, something went wrong during the end of the qualifying session in which we usually improve a lot our lap time. Mika has had some physical problems and stability problems on his bike that didn’t allowed him to reduce the fastest time clocked yesterday during the first free practice. Tomorrow we will try a new technical package that should allow Mika to slightly reduce its gap in order to be more competitive during tomorrow race. ”

Aleix Espargarò – 12th best time in 2’02 .723
“I’m quite pleased for qualifying session outcome, after yesterday’s best eighth lap time, I was hoping to conquer a top ten starting grid position. The twelfth position is still a good placement to be able to fight with the other riders for a good race position. I improved my lap time thanks to a better grip on the rear of my bike. I am very confident for tomorrow’s race where I’ll try to get a good result to forget the negative race I had last week in Japan.”

Mika Kallio – 16th best time in 2’04 .167
“Too bad for the bad qualifying session, I was not able to ride my bike in the best way because I had some physical problems that I’m trying to remedy during the last two races. Unfortunately from a couple of races my left shoulder pain, that it was injured in Le Mans after a fall, is coming up again. I feel much pain, but I hope that tomorrow the situation will considerably improve. I’ll start the race in the last position, but I will give the best I can to be protagonist of a good race. “

Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team – 14th in the race – 14th in the World Championship
“I’m really disappointed with how things went. It was absolutely the worst weekend of the year, since the first free practice I had handling problems with my bike and unlike other races where I had the possibility to change my pace during the race, in this case I have not been able to fight with my opponents for a better position. I started quite well, maintaining my position, I unfortunately found in front of me some riders who were very slow in the first few laps, this has effectively divided the group into two with a gap of several seconds in the first few laps. I struggled with Aoyama and Barberà to try to gain a better position. Their lap pace, however, was much faster than mine, because I’ve never been able to run under a 1′.49″. Over the last few laps I was also overtaken by Hayden. This result will help us to react in the best way and try to our best next week in the Malaysian Grand Prix. ”

Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 15th in the race – 17th in the World Championship
“This was a weekend and a race to quickly forget, one of the worst races ever. During the warm up we had partially reduced the gap from the other riders, this has gave us a good feeling for the race, but unfortunately it was not like this. Only in one occasion I was able to turn with a lap time less than 1 ‘.50. That is not a good thing if your direct rivals are turning two seconds faster than you. We will work hard to close the gap that we have accused today so that we can be as much as possible more close to other riders in the next Grand Prix. “

Espargaro, the faster of the two, was 2 seconds off the fastest time that was set by Valentino Rossi.

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“During today’s free practice we worked on both bikes to try some settings that we will use tomorrow during qualifying session. We worked on the tyres trying both compounds. In particular, we noticed that the first setting we have try on Mika’s bike was not ideal because it didn’t allowed him to enter with the right speed through the corners, once pitted in we had try a different suspension set up, the work undertaken had a good response but not as we expected. We then made a further modify which allowed Mika to turn on a low 1′.51. The good response we had with the last setting on both bikes bodes us well for tomorrow’s second free practice, where we will try to reduce the gap we had from the first rider and find the right setting that will allows us to compete for a good position on the starting grid. ”

Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team – 15th best time in 1’50 .158
“I’m partially happy with how things went today, I had some problems with my forearm that did not allow me to push hard as I wanted. Certainly the result and the two seconds of gap from the first is not exciting, but we’ve got to work a lot and find the right setup that will allow us to gain a good starting grid position tomorrow for the Sunday’s Grand Prix. I have never race on this circuit with a MotoGP bike, and for this reason that during tomorrow second free practice session I’ll continue to improve my feeling with this track. In particular I have to work more in the third and last sector where I accuse the greatest gap from other riders. ”

Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 16th best time in 1’51 .105
“I hadn’t got big problems with my bike even though it was slightly unstable in the curve in some sectors. Thanks to the latest setup made by my technicians, I was able to score my best lap time. Also during the last exit from the pits I had find some instructions to give to my technical to made them work on my bike so that they will made it perfectly balanced. Tomorrow we will start from here to reduce the gap that separates me from the best riders. “