Red Bull KTM Ajo look to get back on track with strong results at Misano.

Collin Veijer and Jose Antonio Rueda aim to move back into the points this weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, beginning a fortnight of back-to-back rounds for the Moto2 World Championship.

Veijer had a solid weekend at MotorLand two weeks ago, being able to fight for the podium during the race. He held third place for more than half the contest, but a small mistake cost him a place in the points come the chequered flag. The Dutchman, who finished 21st at the San Marino Grand Prix last year in his first Moto2 experience there, has fond memories of the track from other series and from Moto3: As a JuniorGP rider, he competed in two races at Misano in 2021 and 2022, achieving a fourth-place finish as his best result. In Moto3 World Championship competition, he was fifth in 2023, while in the two races held there in 2024 he finished fifth and third -on both occasions just tenths of a second from victory. Veijer is currently 12th in the Moto2 standings with 55.5 points.

Rueda remains top of the Rookie of the Year ranking, although he is yet to add to his points tally in the second half of the season. Nevertheless, he finished the races at Silverstone and Aragon, with a 17th place at the latter round after starting outside the Top 20. The Spaniard was the winner of last season’s Moto3 San Marino Grand Prix, with a trademark overtake on the final corner. He also has good results at Misano from his time in JuniorGP, where he finished second in the only race held there in 2022. In this season’s Moto2 standings, he has 27 points and is 18th.

After two last rounds with good feelings even the results do not quite reflect it, Red Bull KTM Ajo are ninth in the Team standings, with a total of 82.5 points. Now, Collin and Jose Antonio head to a track where the team have always performed well, with four victories and three podium finishes in recent seasons. The victories went to Johann Zarco (2015), Raul Fernandez (2021), Pedro Acosta (2023), and Celestino Vietti (2024), with rostrums for Miguel Oliveira (2nd in 2018), Remy Gardner (2nd in 2021), and Augusto Fernandez (3rd in 2022).

Moto2 Free Practice will start at 9:50 a.m (local time) on Friday, with the 22-lap race on Sunday at 12:15 p.m.

Circuit information – Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
Length: 4.226 m / 2.626 miles
Width: 12 m / 39.37 ft.
Left corners: 6
Right corners: 10
Longest straight: 530 m / 0.329 miles
Built: 1972
Modified: 2007

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“I’m very happy to be back at Misano. I’m feeling very excited because I know the track decently well, and it will be my second time here with the Moto2 bike. I’m confident that we will be able to enjoy ourselves again, as we did in Aragon. The vibes were great at MotorLand; we know that the end of the weekend was not the best, but the potential is there, so we will try our best to fight hard. The most important thing is to show significant progress through the three days, so we’ll focus on Friday first and we will go day by day in San Marino.”

#98 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“We’re going to Misano: A circuit I really like and where I have very fond memories. We’ll see how we do with the Moto2 bike, as Sectors 2 and 3 are sure to be challenging in this adaptation process to the new class. I’m really looking forward to getting started there, learning, and enjoying another weekend. We’ve had some good sessions these past few days and we’re arriving in good shape, so it’s time to go all out and try to build steadily throughout every session to have a good race.”