The Italian rider will start from the third row of the grid at Jerez, with Deniz Öncü on Row 8.

The Spanish Grand Prix qualifying sessions took place on Saturday at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, following a wet Practice session. Celestino Vietti was able to earn seventh on the grid, Deniz Öncü 22nd.

Conditions on Saturday morning were very different to those of the previous day. Rainfall early on at the Andalusian circuit prevented the riders from improving their times from Friday, and the Red Bull KTM Ajo duo used the session to gain experience in the wet. Vietti performed well in the rain and made progress, improving his times lap after lap. The Italian took an outstanding eighth position, setting a 1:55.434 on his penultimate attempt. Öncü also felt very comfortable in Practice 2, reflecting his steady adaptation, and moved up the order to claim eleventh, through a 1:56.322.

With both riders in Q1, the Red Bull KTM Ajo pair worked towards getting through to Q2. Vietti had a better feeling with every lap, which was reflected in his times, although late on he fell short of a Top 3 spot and his 1:41.741 put him seventh on the grid. Öncü paid the price for his best lap being canceled due to yellow flags, needing to mount a late challenge for higher positions. Whilst he was able to clock his fastest time on the last attempt, his 1:42.590 was not enough to make the cut and he will start the race from 22nd.

The Moto2 Spanish Grand Prix will begin at 12:15 pm, local time, on Sunday.

Results Qualifying
1. Fermin Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) 1:40.673
2. Albert Arenas (Kalex) 1:41.111 +0.438
3. Jake Dixon (Kalex) 1:41.466 +0.793
4. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) 1:41.554 +0.881
5. Diogo Moreira (Kalex) 1:41.657 +0.984
7. Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:41.741 +1.068
22. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:42.590 +0.629 *Q1 Time

#13 CELESTINO VIETTI

“We have improved our feelings with the bike and we handled the tricky conditions, because there were lots of wet patches. I’m happy, because qualifying after qualifying we are improving and we learned from the mistake we made in America. We kept working and we have taken a step forward here.Maybe we are not the fastest, but we are closing the gap. My hope for tomorrow is to understand the data more and try to be more competitive.”

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“Qualifying in Jerez is done. We had a great lap but it was canceled due to a yellow flag, which was a pity because if it wasn’t for that I could have entered into Q2 for the first time. Anyway, tomorrow will be a new day and we will try to get a good setup to improve our feeling with the bike. We will do our best to try to get a good result, while enjoying ourselves on the bike.”