Last month, Johann Zarco and KTM agreed to a mutual decision of ending their two-year agreement before its completion and the Frenchman will leave the team at the end of the ongoing 2019 MotoGP season. It was already a premature exit for Zarco. However, the latest news tells us that Zarco will not even complete the remaining 2019 season and has exited the team.
KTM has replaced Zarco with its test rider Mika Kallio for the remainder of this season. Zarco has been exempt from his MotoGP duties but stays contracted to KTM until the end of the season.
Kallio, who rode the KTM on its debut in the MotoGP division in Valencia 2016 and has contributed strongly since the early testing phases of the RC16, has already participated in seven wild card races from 2016 until 2018. With two top-ten classifications on the MotoGP bikes and a career total of 16 GP victories and 49 podiums in the lower championship divisions, Kallio is eager to deliver new drive and momentum to KTM’s efforts in the premier class both for the rest of 2019 and with a view to the 2020 RC16.
Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsport Director said, “We have to make decisions to ensure that we use our resources in the best possible way and we are currently in a positive direction with our MotoGP structure. We firmly believe that Mika can help us in this stage thanks to his knowledge and background. It is paramount that we verify our testing results in real race conditions to start our 2020 season in the best position.”
“Mika has proved his ability on the RC16 and we are happy that he joins the line-up as a racer again. There is no doubt that we will focus on a new configuration with the #82 bike while fighting for points in the last races of the championship. At the same time, we want to express gratitude to Johann for his effort since he joined our ambitious project in November last year. We now have to think of the future and are making this step accordingly. KTM will continue supporting him until the expiry of our contract at the end of the 2019 and we truly wish him all the best for his future.”
