The Turkish rider secured 12th place in Moto2 Practice at Silverstone as the chequered flag fell.

Deniz Öncü had a positive Friday at Silverstone, as the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider tasted the track for the first time with a Moto2 bike. He threw himself into the task, completing 33 laps between the two practice sessions for the United Kingdom Grand Prix. With a great lap in the last second of the Practice, Öncü secured 12th place, breaking into Q2 for the sixth time in seven rounds this season. In the morning, in FP1, he was ninth.

With Collin Veijer’s withdrawal, only Öncü will be on track for Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 this weekend. The Turkish rider began working on his adaptation on his first visit with Moto2 in FP1. After a pitstop and adjustments made in the garage, Öncü went out again for a single-lap run, and managed to improve considerably, moving from 20th to 9th at the finish. With 17 laps completed and a best time of 2:03.858, he was one of the intermediate class competitors with the most laps in the morning.

Asphalt temperature warmed up by 17 degrees compared to the morning, allowing the Moto2 riders to set fast times at Silverstone during Practice. Öncü, again completing a long run, fought to go directly into Q2. On his Time Attack, he improved his pace, but it wasn’t enough to get into the Top 14 until he set his fastest lap of the weekend in the closing seconds. A 2:03.269, 5 tenths faster than his morning time, lifted him to twelfth. Once again, he completed more laps than any other rider, with 16, to get the through to Q2 once again.

After a positive feeling at the first contact at Silverstone, Deniz Öncü will try tomorrow to take another firm step forward to achieve a good position on the starting grid. The Turkish rider will take part in FP2 on Saturday from 10:25 a.m. (local time) and will return at 3:10 p.m. for Q2.

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“It was a tricky first day at Silverstone. It was not an easy Friday, but we managed to go directly through to Q2, and we know we have room for improvement during the coming two days. It seems like tomorrow we will have very different conditions, but today we tried to understand how to ride the Moto2 bike on this long and fast track. Now it’s time to analyse how things went on Friday and try to find some extra improvements in some areas to be more competitive for tomorrow.”