Mika Kallio
The first four races of the season showed the early form of KTM and Mika Kallio, with two wins and two other third places, with strong showings by Marco Simoncelli, Alvaro Bautista and Mattia Pasini, who won the season opener in Qatar, his first race in the class. After the initial problems, though, Simoncelli had a run of 7 consecutive races on the podium, from China to Czech Republic. He started the season on a semi-works Aprilia LE (Gilera is a subsidiary of Aprilia, so Gilera racing bikes are rebranded Aprilia bikes), but his performances led Aprilia to give him a works Aprilia RSA, making him a "de facto" works rider.