The Turkish rider (19th) was again just a breath away from Q2 while Veijer (25th) improved his Friday best time by one and a half seconds.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders made improvements in Argentina on Saturday, but would just miss out on better grid spots. Deniz Öncü was denied a place Q2 after the chequered flag fell in Q1, and will start from 19th, whilst Collin Veijer was just four-tenths off the Q2 cutoff but had to settle for 25th.

After a somewhat difficult Friday, Saturday started with very positive feelings for both Red Bull KTM Ajo riders. In dry conditions, Öncü was able to shave nine-tenths off his time from the opening day, completing 14 laps and placing fifth with a best time of 1:41.826. Veijer had struggled to find a good feeling at Termas de Río Hondo on Friday, but took almost a second and a half off his best lap from Practice, clocking a 1:42.566. With 15 laps under his belt, the Dutchman halved the gap to the top spot, leaving him just one second behind in the session. He was 22^nd.

Whilst raindrops appeared earlier in the afternoon, rain stayed away for Moto2 Qualifying. Öncü led Q1 in his first outing and, after going through the pits, went back out to compete for the Top 4. However, his rivals upped their pace, leaving Öncü fifth and with no time to respond. He rode eight laps and improved his FP2 time with a 1:41.628, for 19th place on the grid. Behind him, Veijer, also racking up eight laps, set a 1:42.204, improving his morning time by another 3 tenths to take 25th on the grid. He, like his teammate, would not go into Q2.

Another day of learning for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team, who will have the opportunity to close the weekend in Termas de Rio Hondo tomorrow in the best possible way. The 21-lap Moto2 Argentinian GP will start at 1:15 p.m. on Sunday.

Qualifying Results
1. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) 1:40.870
2. Jake Dixon (Boscoscuro) 1:41.070 +0.200
3. Marcos Ramirez (Kalex) 1:41.096 +0.226
4. Alex Escrig (Forward) 1:41.114 +0.244
5. Diogo Moreira (Kalex) 1:41.156 +0.286
19. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:41.628 +0.758
25. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:42.204 +1.334

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“Not a good day today. The Q1 didn’t go as planned. I did a small mistake in my last flying lap and this cost us the Top 4 and also the access to the Q2. Tomorrow it’s very important to do a good start to recover some positions in the beginning. We have a good pace, so it would be good to stay as close as possible to the Top positions during the first laps. As it happened in Thailand, we need to comeback, so we will do our best to catch all the possible points here in Termas.”

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“We did a big improvement today in comparison with yesterday. On the morning, we did a good job during FP2 and we find something new for the rest of the weekend. On the afternoon, we improved a little bit more during the Q1, so we rode 1.6 seconds off than on Friday, which are very good news. Let’s try tomorrow to make a good race and to enjoy all we can. Feeling is getting much better than yesterday, and that’s all matters for now.”