After a great start, which saw him shoot up to second place early on, the Turkish rider finished the race in a positive eighth position.

The fourth race of the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship took place today at Le Mans – the third round of the season – at the same venue as the MotoGP World Championship. Deniz Öncü had a solid weekend, qualifying in seventh position on the grid and finishing the race in a notable eighth position.

The race was declared wet, after light rain continued to fall throughout the day at the French track. Deniz Öncü made a great start from seventh on the grid, overtaking five rivals to move up to second. The tricky conditions at the track provided a tough challenge and the young Turkish twice went long on cornering, thus falling back to 14th place. However, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider fought hard to come back again and eventually crossed the finish line in eighth place, registering the second fastest lap of the race.

With this result Deniz Öncü achieved his first points of the FIM CEV 2019 season. The next round of the series will take place at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit on 9th June, with two races for the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship riders.

Results – Race
1. Yuki Kunii (Honda) 31:44.637
2. Jose Julian Garcia (KTM) +7.563
3. Jeremy Alcoba (Husqvarna) +7.656
4. Daniel Holgado (Honda) +7.958
5. Barry Baltus (KTM) +8.120
8. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +12.76

FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship Standing
1. Yuki Kunii (Honda) 70 points
2. Jeremy Alcoba (Husqvarna) 57 points
3. Xavier Artigas (Honda) 53 points
4. Barry Baltus (KTM) 52 points
5. Jose Julian Garcia (KTM) 42 points
19. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 8 points

53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“I made a great start. I was in seventh and by the first corner I’d already got up into second place. At the third turn I had a highside and I overshot the next corner. After these two mistakes, I was overtaken by quite a few riders. I reacted and I was able to set a good pace, riding with more confidence, but it was too late. There were eight laps left and I gave everything to finish as high as possible. I am happy because these are the first points of the year, but at the same time I’m a bit disappointed, because our goal was to fight for the top positions. We’ll be ready for it in Barcelona.”