The Italian rider sets the second best time of the day, with Deniz Öncü in 28th place.

Red Bull KTM Ajo faced the first day of the San Marino Grand Prix on Friday, with Celestino Vietti in second position in front of his home crowd. Deniz Öncü was 28th on the opening day.

Free Practice at Misano was undertaken with good track conditions. The intermediate class riders started the day focused on fine-tuning the setups of their bikes and adapting the new tyres to the circuit. Vietti maintained a good pace in a session in which the times were very close and, after a pit stop, continued to improve his times. On his tenth lap of 20, he set the eleventh best time of the session, a 1:36.521. Öncü arrived at Misano motivated after his positive result last weekend. The Turkish rider improved over the course of Free Practice, although he experienced discomfort in his left wrist due to the physical demands of the track. Öncü set the 20th best time of 1:36.881 on his last lap.

In the afternoon session, Vietti took a big step forward whilst remaining very consistent from start to finish. He secured the second best time of the day, improving his times from the morning by a second, clocking a 1:35.692 on his 21st attempt of 23. Öncü’s discomfort from the morning continued into the afternoon and, as a result, he was unable to lower his times. He was 28th, with a 1:37.195 on his 16th lap. On Saturday, he will need to increase his pace in order to go directly into Q2.

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

Results Practice 1
1. Aron Canet (Kalex) 1:35.561
2. Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:35.692 +0.131
3. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) 1:35.781 +0.220
4. Tony Arbolino (Kalex) 1:35.845 +0.284
5. Albert Arenas (Kalex) 1:35.920 +0.359
28. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:37.1995 +1.634

#13 CELESTINO VIETTI

“It’s been a really good day, at a track that I really like. This morning I struggled a bit when trying to understand the new tyre. However, in the afternoon we tried a long run to try to understand everything better and in the time attack I was also fast. So, I am really happy with the work today. We will work to improve on some sectors, especially in the first and fourth where I am losing a bit of time. Here, if you try to follow a rider the temperature quickly gets too high, so we have to focus on qualifying and finding a good grid position for the race.”

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“We have finished the first day here in Misano. It has been a hard day for me, because my wrist hurts a bit, but I can handle it. I struggled this afternoon, and I think I lost my way a little, but we will work today to fix this for tomorrow’s sessions. I want to continue having fun on the bike and keep learning. We’ll push tomorrow.”