The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider moves up 10 positions in the second FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship contest today, after placing 13th in Race 1 in the morning.

The Jerez-Angel Nieto Circuit hosted the sixth round of the FIM CEV series this weekend, featuring the eighth and ninth races of 2019 in the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship. Deniz Öncü improved from first contest to the second, placing 13th in Race 1 and 4th in Race 2, after a hard-fought comeback.

Deniz Öncü made a good start from the fifth row of the grid in the opening race, moving up five places on the first lap and slotting into the lead group. The Turkish youngster was up as high as 9th, but past the halfway mark the frontrunners escaped and he dropped down several positions. Whilst he regained ground in the final third, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 rider was eventually left out of the third group and took the chequered flag 13th.

Race 2 got underway at 2 pm, and Öncü quickly progressed from 14th to 10th on the first lap. Deniz mounted an assault on the chasing pack as the contest entered its second half, and completed a great fightback to lead that group, establishing a gap and claiming 4th.

The event at Jerez rounded off a run of three consecutive weekends of racing for the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider, who also participated at the San Marino and Aragon GP earlier this month. The next round of the FIM CEV will be held on October 13th at Albacete, where the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship will contest a single race.

Results – Race 1
1. Carlos Tatay (KTM) 28:44.696
2. Jeremy Alcoba (Husqvarna) +7.483
3. Xavier Artigas (Honda) +7.524
4. Pedro Acosta (KTM) +7.591
5. Ryusei Yamanaka (Honda) +7.792
13. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +12.075

Results – Race 2
1. Carlos Tatay (KTM) 28:47.809
2. Ryusei Yamanaka (Honda) +2.741
3. Jeremy Alcoba (Husqvarna) +2.742
4. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +8.832
5. Pedro Acosta (KTM) +13.566

FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship Standing
1. Jeremy Alcoba (Husqvarna) 154 points
2. Carlos Tatay (KTM) 117 points
3. Xavier Artigas (Honda) 114 points
4. Barry Baltus (KTM) 105 points
5. Ryusei Yamanaka (Honda) 89 points
11. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 37 points

53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“In the first race I made a good start and was fighting with the front group. Afterwards I lost some ground; I tried to catch the riders ahead of me, but due to a small collision with someone else I had to go slightly off track, leaving me in 13th.
In the afternoon we weren’t expecting to get a fourth position, since we had been finding things difficult this weekend. However, at the beginning I passed several other rivals. Lap after lap, I gained places until I led the chasing group. I tried to fight for the podium but the leading riders were more than three seconds away. I gave my all and I’m very happy, because I saw that we really have potential. This is our best result so far this year, so the next time we will continue working to progress in the same direction.”