The Turkish rider will complete the second row of the German GP grid. Collin Veijer, who had a heavy crash in the morning, will start from 23rd.

The expected rain at the Sachsenring arrived on Saturday, affecting proceedings in the Moto2 class at the German Grand Prix and providing adverse track conditions. Deniz Öncü and Collin Veijer took precautions to avoid costly mistakes, and whilst the former was very competitive in wet conditions, achieving sixth on the grid, his teammate suffered a big highside at the start of FP2 that forced him to go into Q1 with practically no wet track time, before claiming 23rd place.

There was no rain on the track and the asphalt had improved slightly for Moto2 FP2, although the temperatures had dropped to 17°C, forcing the intermediate class riders to take to the track with great caution.

After a strong Friday, Öncü once again proved very competitive on Saturday morning, albeit in track conditions completely different to those he had experienced before. The Turkish rider, who started cautiously to gain confidence lap by lap, completed Free Practice 2 without making any pit stops. This allowed him to read the track conditions fully, finishing solidly in third place. His best lap -a 1:32.643- on his 17th lap of 19 was less than a tenth of a second off the second spot. Veijer was not as fortunate as his teammate. Usually one of the strongest riders in the class in wet conditions, he crashed early on at Turn 11, with a nasty looking highside. Fortunately, he escaped unharmed and, after a pit stop and a quick bike repair with the help of the entire Red Bull KTM Ajo team, he was able to get back on track to complete the final minutes of the session. However, he only had time to complete seven laps, leaving him in 28th place with a time of 1:36.501.

Qualifying featured rain and even more wet patches on the track. In Q2, Öncü was one of the men to beat from the start. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider lowered his best time on several occasions, fluctuating between fourth and sixth place. Although he eventually missed out on the front row, Öncü made a very positive impression from his ten laps, finishing sixth overall to secure a place on the second row with a 134.992. It was a repeat of his achievement at the Italian GP. Veijer was forced to participate in Q1, although after a lack of track time during FP2, he had to use the session to regain both his feeling and confidence. However, he performed very favourably throughout Q1, lowering his times consistently and finishing less than a second off the Top 4. That meant that he was unable to make the cut for Q2 on his nine laps, and he will start from 23rd. Veijer’s 1:35.408 would have been enough for him to finish tenth in Q2, held in similar conditions.

After a bittersweet Saturday with Deniz confirming his good feeling but Collin unable to get as close as he deserved due to a crash, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team heads into the third and final day at Sachsenring. Both riders will take part in the 25-lap German Grand Prix at 12:15 p.m. (local time) on Sunday.

Qualifying Results
1. Jake Dixon (Boscoscuro) | 1:33.487
2. Barry Baltus (Kalex) | 1:33.557 (+0.070)
3. Tony Arbolino (Boscoscuro) | 1:33.562 (+0.075)
4. Senna Agius (Kalex) | 1:33.588 (+0.101)
5. Albert Arenas (Kalex) | 1:34.830 (+1.343)
6. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:34.992 (+1.505)
23. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:35.408 (+1.921)

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“Saturday is done here in Germany, and we had some very tricky conditions. I’m happy to have finished the day without crashing, which was not easy with the sessions we had today. We will start from the second row tomorrow, in sixth, which is quite a good result after the difficult conditions we had on track. We hope to have better weather tomorrow, so starting this close to the front is very important for us. We will try to fight with the frontrunners and, of course, get the maximum amount of points possible.”

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“We had a big crash in FP2 that affected our confidence in the rain. Fortunately, I was OK and my team put in a big effort to fix the bike, so I could do some more laps during the last part of the session. We rebuilt our feeling and confidence in Q1, but it was not enough to make it through to Q2. I think today we had a good opportunity to be up there, but what’s done is done, so we need to focus on what is coming tomorrow. Overall, I only can say sorry to the team, but, for sure, I will fight during the race to bring home a good result for them. We have much more potential, so we’re working on showing it.”