The Turkish rider goes fastest in FP1 and finishes third in Practice, setting a track record on Friday. His stand-in teammate achieves a creditable 14th place in Practice.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Moto2 first day at MotorLand was a positive one for Deniz Öncü and Dani Muñoz. After two competitive sessions, the two riders both made it directly into Q2. Öncü was fastest in the morning and finished third in the afternoon, with Muñoz ninth and fourteenth in his first runouts for the team.

Sunshine and track temperatures of 32°C provided excellent conditions for the Moto2 riders. Öncü adapted perfectly and went on to head a practice session for the sixth time this season. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was amongst the pacesetters from the get-go, having been fast at MotorLand already in previous years. In the second part of the session, he lowered his best lap several times, finally setting a 1:51.356 for the top spot – 2 tenths faster than his best last year at the Aragon GP.

Muñoz completed the same number of laps (17), making his official debut with Red Bull KTM Ajo as a replacement for Collin Veijer. The young Spanish rider used his experience from last year at MotorLand to claim a Top 10 in the FP1. After starting out in the Top 20, Muñoz made a significant leap in the final stages, climbing to fourth with a fastest time of 1:51.896 -almost a second and a half quicker than his previous best time in Aragon. Finally, he finished in ninth.

In Practice, Öncü consolidated his race pace and then went out for a Time Attack, managing to break the track record in the closing stages. He finally knocked 7 tenths off his time from last year at MotorLand, with his 1:50.839 placing him third. He rode some eighteen laps -more than any other rider.

Muñoz also went straight into Q2 on his first attempt. After surprising in the morning, he continued his excellent performance by achieving the 14th best time in Practice. Starting out focused on improving his feeling on the bike, he managed to put in several strong laps in the final stretch to make the cut for the second time in his career. With his 1:51.346 after sixteen laps completed, he managed to take 0.5 seconds off his FP1 time.

Hopeful and very positive Friday for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team, which has managed to put its two riders directly into Q2 after a sunny day with a lot of speed. Q2 for the intermediate class, which will decide the grid order for the Aragon GP, will begin at 2:10PM (local time) on Saturday. In the morning, the two riders will participate in FP2 (9:25AM).

Practice Results
1. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:50.548
2. Diogo Moreira (Kalex) | 1:50.753 (+0.205)
3. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:50.839 (+0.291)
4. Joe Roberts (Kalex) | 1:50.882 | (+0.334)
5. Barry Baltus (Kalex) | 1:50.964 (+0.416)
14. Daniel Muñoz (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:51.346 (+0.798)

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ
“It’s always nice to start the weekend this way. We finished among the fastest in both sessions, so we need to keep that up tomorrow. We have good pace, so we will try to understand the small things in order to be just as competitive during Q2 tomorrow. My goal for the second day is to achieve a good grid position, because we’re strong at this track and the race could be very fun if we do well tomorrow.”

#17 DANI MUÑOZ
“I felt very comfortable working with the team today. Everything went quite well for our first day here, so I’m very happy to have started in this way. I still have to finish adapting to the bike, but we’re making the most of the opportunity and we’ll do so again tomorrow. It’s time to keep learning and being competitive to be able to do well in Q2. We’ll try to do that again tomorrow.”