The Dutch rider, who was very competitive throughout Friday, had to settle for 16th place in Practice. Muñoz, close to his teammate, finished 20th.

The Austrian GP began with a positive day for Collin Veijer and Daniel Muñoz on Friday at the Red Bull Ring, although neither were able to make it into Q2 directly during the afternoon Practice. The Dutchman finished 16th, just 0.030s outside the cut, while replacement rider Muñoz was 20^th. Tomorrow, in Q1, both will be among the favourites to classify into Q2.

The sun was shining brightly and temperatures were up to 29ºC for the Moto2 field’s first session, and both Red Bull KTM Ajo riders went out early to make the most of their FP1 track time.

After initially being close to the Top 20, Veijer went out for a second stint in which he improved his times on three consecutive laps, catapulting him into the Top 10. However, he went from being 6 tenths off the top spot to 7 tenths -taking him down to 16^th after 22 laps. His quickest time was a 1:34.170. Muñoz also significantly improved his time on the final laps, placing just behind his teammate in 17th. His best attempt was a 1:34.262 from his 21 laps, to finish 8 tenths off the pacesetter.

Conditions remained excellent at the home track for Red Bull KTM Ajo in Practice, with track temperatures as high as 43°C and ambient temperatures reaching 31°C.

Veijer quickly moved into the Top 14, eyeing a place in Q2. He put himself in Time Attack mode right from the get-go, then dedicated a stretch of the session to finding his pace for the race. Just like in FP1, he was narrowly outside the Top 14, as the field tightened up. With fourteen riders within 5 tenths of a second, even two final attempts left him outside the cut-off: His 1:33.775 was almost 4 tenths quicker than in the morning, but only put him 16th -0.030s off 14th. Muñoz opted to work on his race pace initially, to continue acclimating to Moto2, session by session. With twenty minutes remaining, he moved from 26th to 16th, very close to Q2 before the start of the final Time Attack. Unfortunately, in the final three laps many riders upped their pace, keeping him in 20th. He was 0.150s of a second off the cutoff and 0.6s behind the best time. Muñoz also improved on his morning best by 3 tenths, with a 1:33.910 after eighteen laps completed.

All in all, it was a promising Friday for the two Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders, who know they are capable to secure a place in tomorrow’s battle for Pole Position. On Saturday, the duo will both be in Q1 at 1:40 p.m. -preceded by FP2 at 9:25 a.m.

Practice Results
1. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:33.290
2. Aron Canet (Kalex) | 1:33.303 (+0.013)
3. Ivan Ortola (Boscoscuro) | 1:33.367 (+0.077)
4. Celestino Vietti (Boscoscuro) | 1:33.373 (+0.083)
5. Filip Salac (Boscoscuro) | 1:33.439 (+0.149)
16. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:33.775 (+0.485)
20. Daniel Muñoz (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:33.910 (+0.620)

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“We had a good Friday today at our second home Grand Prix. I felt very good all day, and also we made a big improvement, so I think it’s one of the best Fridays of the season so far. We feel fast and we were very close to getting into Q2, so we will try to achieve that tomorrow. I worked very well today riding alone, so I think that we can be competitive in terms of pace. I enjoyed it a lot today, I felt really good physically and we did a nice job on track, so let’s try to keep the momentum during Saturday at this lovely place.”

#17 DANIEL MUÑOZ

“It’s been a positive start in Austria. We’ve learned quite a few things, although we still need to fine tune things in all four sectors to be competitive over a single lap. Overall, I’m happy. Tomorrow we’ll try to shave off those 3 or 4 tenths of a second we need to make it into Q2 and fight for a better grid position. In this class, it’s important to get a good start, so anything we can gain on Saturday is good work already done.”