Mika Kallio (born 8 November 1982) is a Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racer, currently serving as the lead test and development rider for the Red Bull KTM team in MotoGP.

Kallio started the year well, with a 2nd place in Jerez, before taking his first championship pole position and victory, at the second round of the 2005 season in Estoril.

Before the race, Talmácsi had been ordered by the KTM team to stay back and not to fight with Kallio, seeing how he was not a title contender, and would only take away points.

Kallio was forced to settle for the runner-up spot in the championship again, although he did finish a full 65 points ahead of Héctor Faubel in third position.

[9] He collected 33.1% of all votes and finished in front of enduro world champion Samuli Aro, WRC runner-up Marcus Grönholm and F1 star Kimi Räikkönen.

After a difficult start to the season with mechanical woes at Qatar and Spain, Kallio would consistently be fighting around the top six positions, finishing 6th in Turkey, 5th in China, 7th in France, 6th in Catalonia, 6th in Great Britain, and 8th in the Netherlands.

The turning point of the season would be at Germany, where Kallio took his debut pole position and podium finish in the class, coming home in 2nd, behind teammate Aoyama, to cap a fine 1–2 for KTM.

A 3rd place followed at the Czech Republic, but a nasty highside at San Marino, and more mechanical problems at Portugal cooled off his chances to become Rookie of the Year, and perhaps finish in the top 5.

Kallio would capture his first 250cc class victory at the rain-soaked Japanese race,[10] before crashing out in Australia, a 4th place in Malaysia, and a brilliant win in Valencia, fending off Alex de Angelis on the final lap.

A very strong start to the season saw him finish on the podium during the first four races, a 3rd place at the season opener under the floodlights of Qatar, a fortunate win at Jerez after title rivals Álvaro Bautista and Marco Simoncelli crashed out together on the final lap, another solid third place at Portugal, before continuing his strong run with a masterful victory in China under tricky conditions.

His woes seemed to continue at Donington Park after qualifying only 14th, but he cut through the field fairly quickly, often overtaking multiple riders in a lap, and took a surprise victory.

His title challenge was mathematically over in Australia, having been passed by eventual champion Simoncelli and Bautista a few laps before the end of the race, finishing in third place.

On 19 October 2008, Kallio was announced as part of the new Pramac Racing lineup for the 2009 MotoGP season, riding alongside Italian Niccolò Canepa.

During much of the season however would be blighted with several accidents, most notably at the race in Assen, where Kallio crashed out of 6th place and burnt his finger down to the bone, losing the top section.

Once his stint in place of Stoner was over, Kallio returned to Pramac for the final four races of the season, retiring in Portugal, finishing 9th in Australia, 10th in Malaysia, and 9th in Valencia.

On 17 October 2010, Kallio announced that he would not be competing in the final two rounds of the 2010 season, due to a shoulder injury that he had been riding with, since Le Mans in May.

The main highlight was securing 2nd place at the final round of the season at Valencia, after a close battle with Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter in damp conditions.

After scoring seven top 10 finishes from the opening seven rounds, the Finn then achieved a strong 2nd place at the Sachsenring, after a race long battle with eventual Moto2 champion Marc Marquez and Alex de Angelis.

De Angelis attempted a pass at the final corner, but the Finn calmly retook the position, cutting back underneath the San Marino rider.

In typically tropical wet conditions, Kallio had to take avoiding action from a separate crash on the opening lap, skating across the gravel and dropping all the way down the order to 29th place.

The Finn put in a determined display and produced a superb comeback in the mixed conditions, to finish the race in 7th place, which later became 6th, after Anthony West's disqualification.

At the 2013 season's end, Kallio was fourth in the rider's championship, with 188 points, one victory, four podiums, one pole position, and a fastest lap.

His quest for the title began well, as he recovered from a nasty crash in qualifying, to finish in third place at Qatar, but was later promoted to second, after Nakagami's bike was disqualified on technical grounds.

In Germany, Kallio was narrowly pipped to victory by Dominique Aegerter on the final lap, after a race long battle with the Swiss.

His victory was his 16th of his career, surpassing the late Jarno Saarinen's win tally of 15, to become Finland's most successful race winner in MotoGP history.

On 1 September 2014, Marc VDS announced Álex Márquez would join the team in 2015 alongside Rabat,[21] leaving Kallio to seek employment elsewhere for next season.

Nonetheless, Kallio clinched second place overall in the rider's standings, concluding the year with three wins, and a personal best of 288 points scored.

After the Misano race, on 14 September 2015, it was decided upon that both parties would mutually agree to cancel the remainder of the contract, and part ways immediately.

[31] Kallio suffered a serious knee injury when racing as a scheduled wildcard entry at the Sachsenring, German round in July 2018, disrupting the KTM test programme.

KTM was forced to contract Randy De Puniet as a replacement test rider for the remainder of 2018,[32] and to end any further test-rider entries at races, being too risky for their future plans.