The Dutchman places 25th on the opening day of the Italian Grand Prix, with Deniz Öncü 15th in Practice.

Red Bull KTM Ajo welcomed back Collin Veijer on Friday at Mugello, returning from injury. The Dutch rider completed both sessions successfully in 25th place, demonstrating his progress throughout the day and finishing just two seconds off the afternoon’s best time. Deniz Öncü was fourth in the morning and only just missed the cut for Q2 in Practice by 50 thousands of a second.

The intermediate class field were able to set fast times at the long Italian track, amidst excellent conditions. One of the quickest in the morning was Öncü, who quickly established himself among the frontrunners. The winner of the Aragon Grand Prix a fortnight ago, he held the lead during the middle part of the session, although ultimately had to settle for fourth place. Less than two-tenths off the top spot and just slower than his best time from last year at the track, the Turkish rider completed 17 laps, with a best time of 1:50.768. Veijer completed two laps fewer, with 15, and was able to ride again after more than a month of inactivity. He improved lap by lap and showed clear progress as the minutes passed, finally placing 25th with a best time of 1:53.169.

In the afternoon, with higher temperatures but some cloud over Mugello, the majority of Moto2 riders continued to take tenths off their morning lap times. However, this was not the case for Öncü. He was in the Top 10 throughout the session, but the hot track conditions in the final part of Practice prevented him from improving in his Time Attack, and he missed out on Q2. In 15th place in Practice after 17 laps, he posted a 1:50.958 that left him less than eight-tenths off the top spot and unable to go directly into Q2. Veijer was able to make a solid start in the Practice. With a 1:52.225, the Dutchman shaved almost a second off his morning time, although he had to settle for 25th place again. The rookie, who did not want to push too hard on his return to World Championship action, completed 13 laps and was just two seconds off the session’s fastest time.

All in all, it was a bittersweet Friday for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team, who will try to make it into Q2 tomorrow with Deniz Öncü and continue to get closer to the front with Collin Veijer. Both will take part in Free Practice 2 on Saturday, starting at 9:25 a.m. (local time). In the afternoon, Q1 will be held at 1:45 p.m, with Q2 to follow.

Practice Results
1. Filip Salac (Boscoscuro) | 1:50.208
2. Celestino Vietti (Boscoscuro) | 1:50.288 (+0.080)
3. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:50.302 (+0.094)
4. Barry Baltus (Kalex) | 1:50.374 (+0.166)
5. Tony Arbolino (Boscoscuro) | 1:50.469 (+0.261)
15. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:50.958 (+0.750)
25. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:52.225 (+2.017)

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“That’s the first day in Mugello done. Honestly, we’ve been working a lot on the bike. Tomorrow we have some more ideas to try out, so let’s see how they work for us. In any case, we will have to go through Q1, so tomorrow we will fight to make it into Q2. We need to take away the positives and improve as much as we can to have a good grid position for Sunday’s race.”

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“I felt really good today. This morning it was a little bit strange after the injury, but in the end we improved lap by lap. It wasn’t too bad, and I was expecting it to be worse. It was the same with the second Practice: I felt quite good and I got back some of the feeling after five weeks without riding. It was the longest time I’ve gone without riding a bike in the World Championship, but I think we can manage to get back to where we want to be as soon as possible. In general, it was a good day for us.”