Veijer and Rueda conclude preseason testing with more than 300 laps combined over the two days in Spain.

Collin Veijer and Jose Antonio Rueda brought the two days of testing at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto to a close on Tuesday, working in sunny conditions and taking a step forward in their preparations for the 2026 season. The former finished 13th, whilst the Moto2 rookie placed 28th, improving his best lap time from Day 1 by more than a second and a half.

Veijer was the first Red Bull KTM Ajo rider to take to the track in the morning. Following his strong performance on Monday, the Dutchman quickly moved into the provisional top spot again. After his first stint, he alternated between trying out new things with his bike and longer runs, which allowed him to lower his time to 1:39.472. He did so without using any soft tyres and going slightly faster than his best time from Day 1. Relentless in his workload, he accumulated 51 laps with almost half the day remaining.

In the afternoon, Veijer continued searching for the best setup to go into the season start with greater confidence. Unfortunately, he was unable to put together a perfect lap after suffering a highside on the exit of Turn 3. Despite escaping the incident unhurt, it was his final action of the day, and he had to settle for a 1:39.472 as his best time. He racked up 74 laps on Tuesday, with a combined 166 from the test as a whole.

Rueda had a great day, taking a valuable step forward in his adaptation to Moto2. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider improved in every aspect, after going out on track for the first time at 11am. Of his seven flying laps in the session, Rueda managed to beat his best lap time from Monday on four occasions, with a 1:41.573 his quickest time -and 9 tenths faster than his marker from Day 1.

He then focused on accumulating kilometres to continue to better understand his bike, even trying some longer runs than usual to experience distances more similar to those of a race day. After completing 51 laps in the morning -many in the mid-1:41s and low-1:42s, Rueda stopped for lunch with a best time of 1:41.223 to his name. In the final session, he decided to run a set of soft tyres to test his Time Attack, and lowered his best time to 1:40.844. His 71 laps from Tuesday took him to a total of 143 over the two days.

In conclusion, the Official Moto2 Test in Jerez has come to an end with a lot of work done and many conclusions drawn within the Red Bull KTM Ajo team. With both riders in good shape and making clear progress throughout the pre-season, the team is now preparing to travel to Thailand, where Buriram will host the first round of the 2026 season from February 27th to March 1st.

Combined Results (Day 2)
1. Alex Escrig (Forward) | 1:38.815
2. Celestino Vietti (Boscoscuro) | 1:39.029 (+0.214)
3. Alonso Lopez (Kalex) | 1:39.037 (+0.222)
4. Barry Baltus (Kalex) | 1:39.066 (+0.251)
5. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:39.088 (+0.273)
13. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:39.472 (+0.657)
28. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:40.844 (+2.029)

NIKLAS AJO – Team Manager

“Overall it has been a very positive test here in Jerez. With Collin we focused mainly on trying to find the best possible base setup for the season. He had very impressive and constant pace on both days especially with used medium tyres which bodes well for the upcoming season but, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish his time attack in the end due to a crash. In any case we’re really pleased with his progress since last year. As for Jose Antonio, his progress has been very good and we’re happy with his development. Yesterday was a bit tougher for him, as it was his first day on the bike, but today he showed that step by step he’s getting more feeling with the bike and starts to enjoy the new category. He still has a long way to go, but I’m convinced that with his talent the progress will be really fast in next races.”

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“Today was another good day. We did a lot of laps and we enjoyed riding the bike here in Jerez. The weather was really good and the track offered us some nice conditions, so we could try a lot of things. In contrast to yesterday, we tried the soft compound, but unfortunately, we couldn’t put it all together for a perfect lap. At the end of the day we had some more things to test, but I had a heavy crash at the exit of Turn 3. I’m OK, that’s the important thing, so we’ll rest a little now and go on to Thailand to start the season soon.”

#98 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“Today has been a great day. We were able to improve by more than a second and a half compared to yesterday, and the feeling is completely different. Overall, I felt much more comfortable on the bike from my first runout, where we were able to improve on my best lap from yesterday several times. From there, we continued working to make me feel even more at ease on the bike, and we even tried doing some longer runs to prepare for Thailand, so I’m very satisfied with the progress made and ready for what’s to come.”