The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders will fight for Pole Position at the Japanese Grand Prix, after setting strong laps in the closing moments of Practice.

There was an excellent start for Red Bull KTM Ajo at the Japanese Grand Prix, as both Collin Veijer and Daniel Muñoz made their way into Q2 boding well for the rest of the weekend. The pair took tenth and twelfth place in Practice, respectively, and were 4 tenths off the day’s top time, which was more than one second faster than the previous track record.

Free Practice in the morning was hot and fast, with temperatures as high as 39ºC on track. The initial conditions were so favourable that the previous circuit record was lowered by more than 7 tenths of a second.

Muñoz made a good impression, consistently keeping within a second of the pacesetter. In 16th after his first stint of laps at Motegi -where he had only taken part in three practice sessions last season- he went into the pits to prepare for a second run. The Spaniard then clocked his best time of the session in the final moments, to round off the Top 10 on the timesheets with a 1:49.757. He was just 6 tenths off the fastest lap, and 1.5 seconds quicker than he had been at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix. Veijer got off to a good start, working alone in the early going. The Dutchman completed one of the longest runs of the Moto2 field, riding for over 25 consecutive minutes. He held 12th place until the final stretch of the session, then changed tyres and lowered his time again on his final attempt, setting a 1:50.087. Veijer was barely a second off the top spot, and just 3 tenths off the previous circuit record at Motegi. Like his teammate, he completed 17 laps in total.

With temperatures slightly higher than in the morning, rising to 41°C, the Moto2 riders headed out for Practice in the afternoon at Motegi.

The afternoon session brought much improvement from Veijer, who was more competitive than in the morning, right from the opening laps. In fact, on his fastest lap of his first stint, he was the quickest man in the first sector, although he ultimately completed the lap in 10th place. After changing tyres, he made it back into the Top 10 during his Time Attack. However, just after completing his best lap of the day, with a 1:49.054, he lost control of his bike at Turn 1, causing him to suffer a highside. Unharmed, he nevertheless had to end the session, and did so in tenth – one second faster than in FP1 and just 3 tenths off the top spot after 15 laps. Muñoz completed one more lap than his teammate, spending the first part of the session working on his race pace riding alone. This left him out of the Top 20 until his pit stop. From then on, with a similar position and time to his teammate, the replacement rider tried to snatch a position in Q2. His push paid off, and he dropped his time to 1:49.134 to climb to 12th place, going directly into Q2 for the fifth time in six races with Red Bull KTM Ajo.

All in all, it was a great Friday for Collin Veijer and Daniel Muñoz at Motegi, with both riders qualifying directly for Saturday’s Q2. The pair will target a positive grid position in Q2 on Saturday, which takes place at 2:05 p.m. (local time). Before that, they will have the second Free Practice session of the weekend, starting at 9:25 a.m.

Practice Results
1. Jake Dixon (Boscoscuro) | 1:48.679
2. Ayumu Sasaki (Kalex) | 1:48.828 (+0.149)
3. Izan Guevara (Boscoscuro) | 1:48.915 (+0.236)
4. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:48.945 (+0.266)
5. Tony Arbolino (Boscoscuro) | 1:48.969 (+0.290)
10. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:49.054 (+0.375)
12. Daniel Muñoz (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:49.134 (+0.455)

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

It was a very good Friday today. The morning wasn’t easy because we suffered some problems with the bike, but in Practice the feeling was much better and I enjoyed myself quite a lot. We’re competitive in terms of our race pace, and also with new tyres we managed to do some good laps. At the end, I suffered a big crash. Fortunately, I’m fine, so it was only a mistake that didn’t prevent us from making it into Q2. Tomorrow we will try to work more on our pace during the morning session in order to achieve a good grid position in the afternoon -which will be the vital for Sunday’s race

#17 DANIEL MUÑOZ

“I’m very happy with today. The goal for Friday was achieved in style, which was to get straight into Q2, so we’re going to try to make further progress tomorrow. I felt very good on the bike and the team’s work has been excellent, so we’re now focused on getting faster tomorrow so that the progress continues. We want to secure a good spot on the grid, so we’ll have to be on form tomorrow to achieve that, as everything is very tight here.”