The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider finished 24th at MotorLand on his fourth appearance in the Moto3 World Championship.

Today the MotorLand Aragon Circuit hosted the 14th race of the 2019 World Championship, with the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 team finishing the 19-lap contest solidly. Deniz Öncü further built up his Grand Prix experience, fighting throughout the contest with the regular Moto3 World Championship competitors. The Turkish youngster ended 24th on a tough Sunday, in which it was no easy task to keep up with the fastest riders in the class.

Öncü took off from the ninth row of the grid in 26th place, getting through the first tricky corner at the Spanish track cleanly and moving up four positions at the beginning. As the riders battled over the following laps a lead group escaped at the front, with the young Turkish talent riding further back and exchanging places in a group of four competitors. In the last part of the race, Deniz lost contact with the pack and rode alone, before crossing the finish line in 24th position.

The next round for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 team will be the first of the flyaway rounds, which will take place on the 4th-6th October weekend in Buriram, Thailand.

Results (Moto3 Race)
1. Aron Canet (KTM) 38:01.916
2. Ai Ogura (Honda) +4.581
3. Dennis Foggia (KTM) +4.663
4. John McPhee (Honda) +4.729
5. Alonso Lopez (Honda) +4.842
24. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +20.870

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2019
1. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Honda) 184 points
2. Aron Canet (KTM) 182 points
3. Tony Arbolino (Honda) 155 points
4. John McPhee (Honda) 126 points
5. Marcos Ramirez (Honda) 123 points
29. Can Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 4 points
34. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 0 points

Aki Ajo – Team manager
“It’s another race which Deniz Öncü finished in the World Championship, his fourth in total, and it means he continues to accumulate valuable experience. At this stage, the most important point that he needs is to build up the kilometres, in order to understand how things work. That is what both the team and the rider worked on this weekend during the Aragon Grand Prix. We have to keep improving session by session.”

53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“Right up until the beginning of the race, it was a complicated weekend for us in general. I made a good start, overtaking several riders. But then after three or four laps, I made a mistake in the chicane and went off track, which meant I dropped back from the main group. In the last part of the contest, I lost contact with the rivals in front of me and although I tried to catch them and reduce the gap, it just wasn’t possible. The positive point is that we had a good pace and that we continued to build up our experience.”