The Dutchman places 14th in Practice and Jose Antonio Rueda, after receiving medical clearance, finishes 24th.

A margin of 7 thousandths of a second allowed Collin Veijer to continue his streak of direct Q2 appearances, which now stands at twelve after the first twelve Grands Prix of the 2026 season. On his first ever experience with a Moto2 bike at Silverstone, the Dutchman finished 14th in both sessions. Jose Antonio Rueda could only manage 24th in Practice, but improved his morning time by almost a second -and received medical clearance to continue for the rest of the weekend at the British Grand Prix.

An hour later than usual, the Moto2 class kicked off their British Grand Prix action with Free Practice 1 at 11 a.m. Track temperature was up to 28°C for the session.

Veijer started out by slotting into the Top 15, as he looked for a feeling that would allow him to progress throughout the weekend. Riding alone, the Dutchman improved with each lap, lowering times on several occasions both before and after his pit stops. His best time finally came on his twelfth lap of 14, a 2:03.809 which placed him 14th. Rueda began his work much more cautiously, checking how his right hand would react after the surgery he underwent just two weeks ago and having had barely any time to practice on a bike before arriving at Silverstone. He climbed into the Top 20, just two seconds behind the fastest rider. After a pit stop to fine-tune some initial details, he went back out and shaved tenths off his time, clocking a 2:04.557 after fifteen laps. Rueda was 23rd on the timesheets.

Later in the afternoon, Practice began with slightly warmer temperatures of 46°C on track, and with it the circuit record at Silverstone was broken.

Veijer reaffirmed his performance at a track where he was riding for the first time in his Moto2 career. He centred his work on further fine-tuning his bike for Sunday’s race, and returned to the pits in ninth place. Aiming to secure his 12th direct entry into Q2 from as many Grands Prix, he achieved the feat despite not bettering his time on his next run, placing inside the Top 14 by just 7 thousandths of a second with a 2:02.845 after 14 laps. Rueda had more confidence after receiving final clearance from the medical team at the end of the morning session. He also focused on gathering data throughout almost the entire Practice, and entered the decisive part of the session in 25th position, having improved significantly compared to the morning. After changing tyres, he was able to make another leap forward, reaching a 2:03.249 just 1.4 seconds off the fastest time of the session. However, after 12 laps he could not place higher than 24th and will have to go through Q1.

All in all, it’s been a busy Friday for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team at Silverstone. With one rider in each qualifying session, the team will be aiming tomorrow to get both of them into the fight for Pole Position. On Saturday, Veijer and Rueda will take part in Free Practice 2 at 10:25 a.m. (local time), before the Spaniard participates in Q1 at 2:40 p.m. The Dutch will make his qualifying appearance in Q2, starting at 3:05 p.m.

Practice Results
1. Daniel Holgado (Kalex) | 2:01.815
2. Senna Agius (Kalex) | 2:01.910 (+0.095)
3. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 2:02.087 (+0.272)
4. Alex Escrig (Forward) | 2:02.277 (+0.462)
5. Izan Guevara (Boscoscuro) | 2:02.400 (+0.585)
14. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:02.845 (+1.030)
24. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:03.249 (+1.434)

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“Today was my first ever day with a Moto2 bike at Silverstone, so it was not easy to adapt -because it’s a very long track. The first session was a little bit difficult, but we ended up with not a big gap to the fastest riders. In Practice, we tried our best and we had a decent first stint in terms of our pace. Finally, we managed to get into Q2, so I’m happy with the work we did. The goal for tomorrow is to find something else with our setup, so we can fight better in Qualifying. As always, we will give it our all.”

#98 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“I felt much better than I expected after having ridden very little on the bike these last few weeks. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, especially in specific sections of the circuit, but I know we can achieve that. The feeling has been good after the surgery, so it’s not a bad starting point. The goal for tomorrow is to close the gap to the front and find a more competitive pace, so I have to work hard with my team to keep making steady progress before the end of the weekend.”