Celestino Vietti finishes Saturday eleventh and Deniz Öncü thirteenth.

Saturday at the Japanese Grand Prix was a difficult scenario for the intermediate class riders. After a wet Practice 2, the qualifying sessions took place in the dry, although with intermittent rain. The Red Bull KTM Ajo riders tried to set a good time for Sunday’s race, and finally Celestino Vietti set the eleventh best time, with Deniz Öncü thirteenth.

The morning practice was carried out in the wet, so the intermediate class riders were also unable to improve on their Friday times. The Red Bull KTM Ajo pair took advantage of the opportunity to continue gaining confidence in such conditions, although without taking excessive risks as both were already directly into Q2. Vietti completed a total of 13 laps, setting his best time on the last attempt. His 1:52.847 put him in fifteenth place. Öncü also faced a difficult session due to the state of the track. After having a few scares, he continued riding focused on gaining feeling with his bike. He completed a total of 12 laps, although his best time of 1:57.594 was outside the permitted limit to be registered. However, both riders were already through to Q2 after their outstanding work on Friday.

In the qualifying session, both riders went out determined to set a good time from the opening laps, due to the imminent threat of rain in Motegi. Vietti maintained a high pace from the start, clocking a strong time on his second lap. After a pit stop and with the first drops of rain coming down, he tried to improve his times even further, but this was not possible on the final laps given the conditions. He will therefore start the race from eleventh position with a time of 1:54.233. Öncü also posted his best time in the early laps. Like his teammate, he went back out to push hard, despite the difficult circumstances. The Turkish rider was able to improve his time, but unfortunately the lap was cancelled for exceeding the track limits. His 1:54.451 put him in thirteenth position and he will start from the fifth row of the grid.

The Moto2 race will take place on Sunday at 12:15 pm local time.

Results Qualifying
1. Jake Dixon (Kalex) 1:52.693
2. Zonta van den Goorberg (Kalex) 1:52.699 +0.006
3. Aron Canet (Kalex) 1:53.000 +0.307
4. Joe Roberts (Kalex) 1:53.002 +0.309
5. Izan Guevara (Kalex) 1:53.116 +0.423
11. Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:54.233 +1.540
13. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:54.451 +1.758

#13 CELESTINO VIETTI
“Unfortunately, they weren’t easy conditions to ride in. Maybe I didn’t trust the conditions too much on the first lap and it was the only one that I could really use to set a good time. I feel good with the bike, although we couldn’t try many things out. Tomorrow we will get a good start and we will fight until the end.”

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ
“We’ve finished the second day here in Japan. We were a bit unlucky because it started to rain after the first lap in qualifying. I had a faster lap but it was cancelled because I touched the green section. We will start from the fifth row, so I’ll try to enjoy myself tomorrow in the race and do my best to get as high up as possible.”