KTM test rider Mika Kallio will make a fourth race appearance this season as the Austrian marque has confirmed him as a wildcard for the MotoGP finale in Valencia.
Kallio – a runner–up in the Moto2 and 125cc World Championships – has been a part of KTM‘s test team since the Austrian manufacturer first rolled out its RC16 towards the end of 2015.
The Finn gave KTM its MotoGP debut at Valencia one year ago – in which he was forced to retire with a mechanical issue – and has since made three race appearances in 2017, at the German, Austrian and last weekend’s Aragon Grands Prix.
Kallio took the team to its first top 10 finish of its maiden MotoGP campaign at the Red Bull Ring, and was narrowly pipped to 10th by team–mate Pol Espargaro at Aragon having qualified his RC16 directly into Q2 in 12th.
He admitted after the Aragon race that he did not expect to contest any more races this season, though has been strongly rumoured to be replacing Bradley Smith at the team in 2018 following a tough 2017 for the British rider.
Smith has only scored points on five occasions this year compared to Espargaro‘s eight, and currently sits 23rd in the standings on 14 points ahead of only Kallio, Aprilia’s Sam Lowes and the two stand–ins for the injured Alex Rins at Suzuki Sylvain Guintoli and Takuya Tsuda.
Kallio‘s presence at the final round in Valencia will undoubtedly cast further doubt over Smith’s place within KTM.
Ducati test rider Michele Pirro will also be present at the final round of the season, bringing the total number of entrants for the last race up to 25.
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