The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 rider finished 12th in Q1 and tomorrow he will start from the ninth row of the grid.

It was another day of hard work for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 team, as qualifying took place on Saturday at the MotorLand Aragon circuit. Deniz Öncü went into Q1, as in FP3 none of the riders were able to improve on their Friday times due to the rain. After finishing the session in 12th place, the 16-year-old will start his fourth race in the Moto3 World Championship from the ninth row of the grid.

In FP3, the Turkish youngster rode in mixed conditions due to the rain that fell early in the morning at Aragon. Deniz Öncü made consistent progress throughout the session, even though it was his first experience of riding the 2019 KTM bike in the wet. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider gradually reduced his times – completing a total of 15 laps – with his best effort coming on his final attempt – 2:11.805 -, putting him 19th on the timesheets.

In Q1, with the sun shining brightly in the Alcañiz sky, Öncü continued to build up his experience in qualifying. Deniz did a great job in the session, recording his personal best of the day – 2:00.466 – and sitting close to the Q2 spots for most of Q1. Ultimately, he finished in 12th and tomorrow Öncü will start the Aragon GP from 26th on the grid.

The 14th race of the 2019 Moto3 World Championship begins slightly later than usual, at 11:20 am local time at the MotorLand Aragon circuit.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Aron Canet (KTM) 1:58:197
2. Ai Ogura (Honda) 1:58.898 +0.701
3. Carlos Tatay (KTM) 1:58.983 +0.786
4. Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) 1:59.092 +0.895
5. Celestino Vietti (KTM) 1:59.121 +0.924
26. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:00.466 (Q1 time)

53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“The qualifying session didn’t go as well as we had hoped, as our strategy wasn’t the most successful. We decided not to make a pit stop to change tyres and I guess it would have been better to have two runs. Now we need to think ahead to tomorrow. We will start the race from the ninth row of the grid and try to finish in the best possible position. We don’t know yet if the contest will be dry or wet, but I’m not too worried because I felt good riding in the wet in FP3 and yesterday we also rode pretty fast on dry, despite the heat. We’ll see what the conditions are tomorrow.”