A problem with the asphalt at the Brazilian Grand Prix forces the intermediate class to postpone qualifying sessions

A strange day for the Moto2 class saw the riders unable to complete their second day of action in Brazil, due to issues with the track conditions. In the morning’s FP2 session, Veijer finished 13th and Rueda 27th, as they substantially improved on their times from Friday. Q1 and Q2 will now take place on Sunday morning.

Under much more stable and reassuring conditions at the Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna, dry and sunny morning weather allowed the Moto2 riders to hold FP2 with track temperatures exceeding 35°C and humidity at 62%. The session proved so favourable that they were able to improve on the best time set during Friday’s Practice by the MotoGP class.

Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Veijer continued his progress from the first day, consistently running in the Top 15 from start to finish. The Dutch rider, who prioritised fine-tuning his bike’s setup, completed 17 laps, setting his best time on the final attempt. With a 1:22.032, improving his Practice time from Friday by 2.4 seconds, he finished 13th, 7 tenths of a second off the pacesetter.

Rueda was one of the riders who improved the most compared to Friday, making steady progress just as he did since preseason. Putting in a good lap midway through the session that allowed him to fight for a Top 20 position, his 21 laps was one of the largest totals in the morning, as part of a long run. At the end of this race simulation, he finished in 27th place with a 1:22.699, just 1.4 seconds slower than the fastest rider. He took almost four seconds off his best time from Friday afternoon.

All in all, it was a strange day for the intermediate class today, which will hold its qualifying sessions on Sunday morning. Q1, featuring Rueda, will begin at 9:40 a.m. on Sunday, just before Q2, where Veijer will participate, from 10:05 a.m. The 26-lap Moto2 Brazilian Grand Prix will start at 1:15pm.

#95 COLLIN VEIJER 

“It was a short day today. It wasn’t an easy day, but we learned a lot from the morning session, so we will try to take advantage of that in Q2, which will take place tomorrow morning. I feel confident we can improve before the race, so we will try to achieve a good grid position to be closer to the top.”

#98 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“We weren’t able to participate in the qualifying sessions today, so we’ll have to adapt tomorrow to do them first thing in the morning. This morning we definitely took a step forward, but we have to stay focused to finish off this very unusual weekend. We are ready to give it our all.”