Source: Supplied.

It was a strong weekend at the German grand prix for Red Bull KTM MotoGP riders Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, who raced to point-awarding positions as regular test rider Mika Kallio made an impressive wildcard appearance.

Espargaro started seventh on the grid, marking KTM’s best qualifying result in the premier category. The Spaniard then powered his way to 13th, narrowly falling short of 12th as he collected three championship points in the process.

Teammate Smith finished a further four seconds back in 14th as he continues to become acquainted with the RC16, collecting two points to equal a total of eight so far this season.

One of the most delighting performances throughout the weekend came from KTM’s third rider Kallio, who entered his first grand prix since Valencia last year.

The Finnish rider came just shy of scoring a point in 16th, but his pace was a more positive result than the score on paper, lodging a best-lap faster than his KTM counterparts and championship contender Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha).

“I enjoyed being back on the bike this weekend and I enjoyed racing again,” said Kallio. “I can say that even though I have been away from the races for a while, with only the Valencia race last November under my belt, it’s not so easy to handle the start situation, the first corners with everyone fighting but it went very well.

“When I saw that I could keep the position and then catch guys at the beginning, I felt really satisfied with the pace that we had. It’s a bit of a shame we couldn’t finish in the position where we should be as if you see the best lap time I did (12th) it is better than Valentino and better than Pol and better than Bradley.”

The Austrian-based outfit will now head to Aragon in Spain for testing before kicking off the lengthy summer break in the prestigious series.