News

Newcomer to the WorldSSP Championship and first timer at the Lausitzring, Niki Tuuli turned heads from his very first outing on Friday morning, with his fast pace cementing his new position with Kallio Racing in the Championship. In only his second race start in the FIM Supersport World Championship, Tuuli proudly added a second place trophy and a fastest lap record to his resumé after starting from second on the grid.

The race saw the newcomer take the fight straight to the top of the grid when he stole the lead early on from 4-time reigning WorldSSP Champion Kenan Sofuoglu. Tuuli led for two laps before Sofuoglu overtook him, but Tuuli didn’t give up. He kept the pressure on Sofuoglu until the end, before Sofuoglu was able to pull away.

“I had a good start and our plan was to go straight after Kenan so I could escape from the others,” recalled the young Finn. “Riding felt really good and easy, even though I really had to push the whole time, a lot. I once even passed Kenan but it was easier to ride behind him so I waited for him to make a mistake but he didn't. In the last lap I decided not to push anymore because the highlight of the weekend- the podium was in hands reach. My team did a fantastic job throughout the weekend and everything worked as we planned.”

“For us the weekend's results feel like a win,” added Vesa Kallio, Kallio Racing Team Manager. “It couldn’t have gone any better. The team and Niki have worked hard for this. This whole time we believed it was possible to ride at this level even though it was probably a bit of a utopian thought for some. After all we are a small private team, but often times success is made of from all the small things. It was brilliant to see Niki challenge the experienced Sofuoglu, we even got the lap record with Niki's name, there's nothing left than to be happy.”

Kallio Racing Team joined World Supersport at the Pirelli German Round ahead of competing full-time in the 2017 season.

Niki Tuuli will get his next chance to challenge the leader at the Circuit De Nevers at Magny-Cours in France on the 30^th of September.