With the Dutchman 17th, the two Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders achieved their best qualifying result and will fight for a good race result tomorrow.

A solid Saturday in Jerez for the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders saw Deniz Öncü take his best qualifying result to date in the Moto2 class, with sixth on the grid. Earlier in FP2, he broke the track record to lead the session. Collin Veijer also showed his progress, making it into Q2 for the first time to earn 17th place, his best position in the Moto2 grid.

Having had a positive feeling on Friday, the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders went into FP2 with the aim of continuing the trend. During the first part of the session, Öncü made several adjustments to his setup, whilst in the latter stages he moved up from within the Top 10 to the top spot. He lowered his own track record by more than 2 tenths of a second, clocking 1:39.564 more than 5 tenths quicker than his closest rivals. Veijer also tried a Time Attack in the final stretch, achieving his best lap on his last attempt of 13 -one less than his teammate. The Dutchman, with a 1:40.671, achieved his best time of the entire weekend, just 1 tenth of a second away from breaking into the Top 10. He was 18th in the session.

The good FP2 feelings gave way to some very close and hard-fought qualifying sessions. Veijer went into Q1, and had to battle tirelessly to make it into Q2. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rookie, with a strong final push, was third in the session with a time of 1:40.480 -his fastest of the weekend so far. In Q2, with one set of tyres less than the rest of his rivals, Veijer couldn’t get below a 1:40.922 from his four laps of the track, which earned him 17th place. Öncü found himself in one of the closest Q2s in Moto2 recent years. Despite trying hard for eight laps, the Turkish rider clocked his best time on the second attempt, with a 1:40.055. Far off his time from the morning, he had to settle for sixth on the grid, albeit just 1 tenth off the front row.

After this second positive contact in Jerez, Öncü and Veijer are looking forward to Sunday’s race, where they will try to achieve two good results for the team. On the one hand, the Turkish rider will try to get back on the podium and, on the other, Veijer will fight for his best result in Moto2 so far. The 21-laps Moto2 Spanish Grand Prix will start at 12:15pm (local time) on Sunday.

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“Today was a positive day, but we want more from Qualifying. For tomorrow, the second row is not a bad position, so we have to be patient and calm. The most important thing is not to make mistakes and get to the last part of the race with the frontrunners. Tomorrow we will do our best to get as many points as I can. We worked on a good base here in Jerez, so we’ll try to finish things off in the best possible way.”

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“It’s not been a bad day, once again. We suffered a little bit in the morning, but we improved during Qualifying. The feeling was very good with new tyres, so we tried to push alone in Q1 and we set a very decent lap. In Q2 I couldn’t improve more, but we know what we have to change for next time, so I’m very happy with today’s improvements. We’re 17th for tomorrow, so it’s time to enjoy the race.”