Despite suffering a crash, the Turkish rider secures his third consecutive spot in Q2 directly from Practice. Teammate Veijer will enter Q1 on Saturday at Le Mans.

Deniz Öncü and Collin Veijer completed their sixth Friday of the season in Moto2. The two Red Bull KTM Ajo riders had a difficult start at Le Mans, but they picked up the pace with encouraging results for the rest of the weekend. The Turkish rider finished eleventh in Practice, despite a crash and will once again be present in Q2. Veijer, on the other hand, was close to Q2 positions until the Time Attack, but he will attempt to move out of Q1 after placing 22nd in Practice.

The intermediate class riders completed the first session of the weekend in France with temperatures heating up. Öncü was competitive from start to finish, and inched closer to the lead in the final stretch. With 19 laps under his belt, he clocked his best lap on his 17th attempt, setting a time of 1:35.562, to secure seventh place and continue his strong performance in Free Practice sessions this season. He was 4 tenths quicker than his top time from 2024 at this track. Veijer completed his first kilometers at Le Mans on a Moto2 bike, making progress throughout Free Practice 1. Despite starting far behind the frontrunners, the Dutchman managed to improve on his final lap to set a time of 1:36.674, less than two seconds behind the fastest rider. After 17 laps Veijer closed the session in 22nd place.

The track offered much more optimal conditions in the afternoon, with temperatures as high as 27 degrees Celsius -some 13 degrees above those in FP1. Moto2 Practice saw several red flags, caused by crashes at the final corner which left gravel on the track. Öncü also crashed at the start of the session, at Turn 7, forcing him to remain in the pits for an extended period while his mechanics repaired his bike. Fortunately, he had already set a good lap before the crash, allowing him to come out in the final minutes slightly more relaxed. Finally, with 13 laps under his belt, he finished 11th with a best lap of 1:35.464. Veijer also held a good position throughout Practice. Just under a tenth separated him from the Q2 spots in the Top 14 before the final stretch of the session. However, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rookie failed to put together a perfect lap on his final Time Attack, leaving him 22nd with a fastest time of 1:35.917. The Dutchman completed a total of 18 laps.

After a busy Friday at Le Mans, Deniz Öncü and Collin Veijer will be looking for a good place on the grid tomorrow. On a track with some tricky first corners, it will be key to get the best position in Qualifying in order to avoid as many problems at the start of the race as possible. So, tomorrow, both will run FP2 in the morning from 9:25 a.m. (local time), before moving on to the key moment of the day: the FrenchGP Qualifying. Veijer will take part in Q1, starting at 1:45 p.m., with Öncü already through to Q2 (2:10 p.m.).

Results Practice
1. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:34.744
2. Diogo Moreira (Kalex) | 1:35.079 (+0.335)
3. Filip Salac (Boscoscuro) | 1:35.127 (+0.383)
4. Jake Dixon (Boscoscuro) | 1:35.189 (+0.445)
5. Celestino Vietti (Boscoscuro) | 1:35.291 (+0.547)
11. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1.35.464 (+0.720)
22. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:35.927 (+1.173)

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“The first day at Le Mans finished with a good feeling overall. We once again got into Q2 through Practice, and that’s positive, but I made a mistake on my eighth lap. I can only say thank you to my team for fixing my bike so fast, because I was able to go back out in the final minutes after a great job by them. I didn’t get a very clean lap after the crash, but we will keep working in order to be more competitive tomorrow. It’s important to understand why we made this mistake and to get a better position on the grid.”

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“Today’s feeling was good, so let’s try to improve more tomorrow. This morning we just adapted a little bit to the feeling and it was quite okey. In the afternoon, the feeling was also fine and we did quite a consistent job, especially during the first part of the session, when I did my fastest lap with the used tyre. In the second stint we had a red flag on the last minutes and we decided to take the pits out again as the latest riders, so we caught a lot of yellow flags that didn’t allowed to improve our time. But we learn learn from this and we move on.”