Fifth and sixth row on the grid for the two Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders, who were a little bit unlucky in a session that saw the all-time track record broken.

There was a bittersweet Saturday for Red Bull KTM Ajo at the Australian Grand Prix, as they worked well in Free Practice 2 but came up against adversity in Q2. Collin Veijer will start from 15th on the grid, with Daniel Muñoz 17th after a unfortunate Qualifying session due to the presence of yellow flags, especially on the first laps.

The second day of action began with track temperatures of 14ºC and humidity at 75%, and a wet track after previous rainfall.

Muñoz went out early to test himself in wetter conditions than on Friday morning, but remained cautious with his riding. During the session, proceedings were interrupted by the presence of a bird near the track, and the wait to clear it away allowed the surface to dry gradually. The first riders to use slicks did so in the closing minutes, but Muñoz avoided taking unnecessary risks and settled for ninth place with a 1:39.568, set on his penultimate flying lap out of 14. Veijer was one of the first to go out to read the conditions, and was up into the Top 10 as a result. He also decided against running slicks in the final stretch, instead staying out on wet tyres to gain confidence and gather data. Finally, with a best time of 1:41.489 achieved on his 13th lap out of 17, the Dutchman secured 15th place.

For Q2, the Moto2 riders enjoyed good conditions relatively similar to Practice from Friday, with temperatures as high as 28°C and humidity of 59%.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo riders could not complete a flying lap on their first two and three-lap stints because of the crashes of other riders, making it a shootout in the final three minutes of the session.

Veijer took advantage of the first of his three hot laps to climb to 11th, hoping to improve further during his final two attempts. On the first, he was unable to better his position but did lower his time by more than 4 tenths of a second. On his last attack, he could not put together a perfect lap, leaving him fifteenth on the grid and rounding off the fifth row. With a best time of 1:30.536, Collin shaved 3 tenths off his weekend’s best time, after completing 8 laps in a solo approach. Also did Muñoz, who occupied 15th place on his first attempt. On a second flying lap he improved slightly, but it wasn’t until the final time around that, behind pole-sitter Diogo Moreira, the Spaniard set his best time of Q2. However, the 1:31.234 left him in 17th place, far from a true reflection of his riding thus far during the weekend. This is the fifth time that he has placed 17th in a Q2 session.

Saturday comes to an end with a clear objective for tomorrow’s race: get off to a good start and fight to score good points on both sides of the box. Veijer and Muñoz will take part in the 23-lap Moto2 Australian Grand Prix from 1:15pm (local time) on Sunday.

Qualifying Results
1. Diogo Moreira (Kalex) | 1:29.817
2. Senna Agius (Kalex) | 1:29.828 (+0.011)
3. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex)) | 1:29.893 (+0.076)
4. Jake Dixon (Boscoscuro) | 1:29.993 (+0.176)
5. Daniel Holgado (Kalex) | 1:29.995 (+0.178) 
15. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:30.536 (+0.719)
17. Daniel Muñoz (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:31.234 (+1.417)

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“I felt quite good today. This morning we had to face strange conditions in FP2, but we managed to get by with the wet tyres and a soft setup, trying to get the feeling with them. In Qualifying, I tried to do the first stint behind other riders, but we came up against a lot of yellow flags due to crashes, so we had some flying laps cancelled out. In the second stint, I suffered a little bit to achieve a perfect lap, so we could only finish 15th. Of course, I think we could do better, but this is racing. We will study what we can learn from today to be stronger tomorrow in the race.”

#17 DANIEL MUÑOZ

“It was a strange day today. This morning it looked like we were going to be able to ride in the dry, but it rained, and that messed up our planning a bit. We weren’t able to work much on our pace, so tomorrow we’ll have to see how well we can do. We weren’t very lucky in Qualifying, as several yellow flags prevented us from setting more valid laps, but these things can happen, so we have to learn from it and push hard so we can give 100% in the race tomorrow.”