The best Friday of the year so far for Red Bull KTM Ajo sees their riders eighth and tenth to go through Q2.

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team made serious inroads on their work for the Czech Grand Prix on Friday, with both riders making it directly into Q2 for the second round in a row. Collin Veijer finished eighth in Practice despite suffering a minor crash in the morning, while Jose Antonio Rueda was tenth in the afternoon for his best result in Practice as a Moto2 rider. Before, he was 5th in the Free Practice 1 to achieve his first ever Top 5 in the class.

The ninth Grand Prix of the season began in sweltering heat. By 10am, temperatures had already reached 27°C, with 50% humidity on the track.

Rueda made an excellent start, with a first stint that placed him fourth past the halfway point of Free Practice 1. Riding alone and finding his pace, the series’ top rookie felt comfortable from the outset on a track where he won in Moto3 last year. After a pit stop, the Spaniard came back out for the second part of the session, improving his time again on his penultimate flying lap as he continued to ride by himself. Finally, with a time of 1:59.127, Rueda took fifth place, breaking into the Top 5 of a Moto2 session for the first time and finishing just 5 tenths of a second behind the fastest rider. Veijer also had a solid morning, but needed more track time to regain his feel for the bike after a tough Sunday at Balaton Park last weekend. However, a minor crash on the entry to Turn 3 hampered his progress slightly. After going back to the garage, the Dutchman went out again without any issues and completed 15 laps, finishing in 14th position. His 1:59.609 was set on his final attempt, and was just 2 tenths of a second off his best lap time from last year.

In Practice, conditions became somewhat more extreme, with an ambient temperature of 30°C and a track temperature of 48°C for the afternoon session.

Veijer used his first run to prepare for Sunday, but still remained in the Top 14 throughout the afternoon. For his second stint, he clocked a good opening lap, climbing to seventh place. The Dutchman managed to lower his time again, securing his place in Q2 for the ninth consecutive round in 2026. Placing eighth, Veijer posted a time of 1:58.789 after 17 laps, 9 tenths faster than his morning marker and 7 tenths faster than his best time from 2025 at Brno. Rueda started out working alone to focus on his race pace, steadily reaching the Top 6 again on his first run. Unfortunately, the reigning Moto3 World Champion then suffered a fast crash coming into Turn 11, which left him unable to go back out during the second half of the session due to the condition of his bike. Thankfully uninjured, Rueda watched as his rivals put in Time Attacks, but his 1:58.848 was still enough to keep him in the Q2 spots, in tenth place. He completed just 10 laps in the session, and was 3 tenths faster than in the morning for his best ever Practice result.

After the best Friday of the 2026 season, both riders made it directly into Q2 for the second consecutive weekend. Next, they will take part in FP2 on Saturday from 9:25 a.m. (local time) before qualifying begins at 1:10 p.m.

Practice Results
1. David Alonso (Kalex) | 1:58.511
2. Filip Salac (Kalex) | 1:58.529 (+0.018)
3. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:58.619 (+0.108)
4. Daniel Holgado (Kalex) | 1:58.648 (+0.137)
5. Senna Agius (Kalex) | 1:58.656 (+0.145)
8. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:58.789 (+0.278)
10. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:58.848 (+0.337)

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“I’m happy with our work today. Eighth in Practice is a good result, so I’m very satisfied with this first day at Brno. The morning session was not easy, with a small crash during the first stint and it being difficult to find our feeling, but we managed to turn things around during the second part of  FP1. In the afternoon, we felt very good during both stints, especially In the Time Attack, but I think we still have some room for improvement, so we’ll try to find these small things for tomorrow and enjoy ourselves again.”

#98 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“The day went really well today at Brno, a circuit I really like. From Free Practice 1 onwards, I felt comfortable and had a great feeling on the bike. We worked on changing a few things this afternoon and I think we improved a bit more in terms of our feeling. However, when pushing hard, I crashed, although I didn’t suffer any injury. The important thing is that we’re in Q2 directly for the second time in a row and the feeling is very positive. Now we have to work ahead of tomorrow, as everything is very close here, and take another step towards qualifying high up the grid.”