The Turkish rider finishes in the Top 10 on Friday, while his teammate Celestino Vietti places twelfth.

There was a positive start to the Aragon Grand Prix for the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders. Both Deniz Öncü and Celestino Vietti were very consistent, with their final times putting them eighth and twelfth, respectively.

The morning Free Practice was the first chance for Vietti and Öncü to ride at the track this weekend, but they had recent experience at the track from their test at the newly relaid MotorLand Aragón circuit. Although they started out with clear ideas, thanks to the productive test, the lack of grip on the track did not make things easy. Öncü maintained a great pace and even led the timesheets in the closing minutes. His 1:52.152 on his 16th lap of 18 allowed him to finish the morning in fourth position. Vietti had to work hard to find a good feeling on a track where the lack of grip made things difficult. The Italian progressed steadily and reached the Top 5 halfway through the session. He eventually clocked his best time on his 14th time around, with a 1:52.907 that placed him 14th.

In the afternoon session, the increase in temperatures changed the approach for the riders and, although the track conditions improved, it was a more physically demanding affair. Öncü continued to be one of the most consistent and fastest riders, after working on his pace and getting a good setup. He tried to improve his times until the end, even fighting for the top positions, and after 17 laps he was eighth thanks to his 1:51.574. Vietti was also able to lower his times from the morning, although still without finding his best feeling with his bike. He was twelfth, with a time of 1:51.727.

Moto2 qualifying takes place on Saturday from 1:45 pm local time.
 

Results Practice 1
1. Alonso Lopez (Boscoscuro) 1:50.989
2. Diogo Moreira (Kalex) 1:51.212 +0.223
3. Jake Dixon (Kalex) 1:51.292 +0.303
4. Fermin Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) 1:51.299 +0.310
5. Aron Canet (Kalex) 1:51.351 +0.362
8. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:51.574 +0.585
12. Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:51.727 +0.738

#13 CELESTINO VIETTI

“We struggled a bit today. Of course, thanks to the test we understood the track conditions a bit more quickly. The feeling with the bike is not bad at all, the pace is there, we just need to change some things to be able to ride a bit more comfortably. With different conditions I could have adapted better, but that’s racing. We need to take a step forward and that will be our objective for tomorrow.”

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“It’s good to be back at the top on a consistent basis, and it makes me feel happy. I knew this weekend was going to be hard, because it’s a very physically demanding track and it was always going to challenge me a lot. We had a good day and it has been a good start to the weekend. We are fast and this afternoon we tried some things out. There is still room to improve, so I’m happy with this start and we will keep pushing and enjoying ourselves.”