Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 secure a double direct entry into Q2 on Friday for the second time this year.

Collin Veijer and Jose Antonio Rueda both earned direct entry into Q2 from Moto2 Practice on Friday at Lusail, in a feat they had previously only achieved this season at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Dutchman finished eighth, while the Spaniard took eleventh in the night session.

The intermediate class field took to the track just before 2pm for Free Practice 1, encountering high track temperatures of 44ºC, though with significantly lower humidity than in Sepang the week prior.

Rueda managed to break into the Top 15 within just 10 minutes, sitting only a second off the pace of the fastest rider. After testing his race pace for Sunday during that stint, he returned to the pits with more than twenty minutes still remaining in the session. In 19th place when he headed back out for the final stretch he made a further improvement on his last flying lap to clock a 1:57.758. Finishing less than a second off the top spot, Rueda ended FP1 in 16th to make a promising start to the weekend. Veijer, meanwhile, struggled to break into the Top 20 during the first fifteen minutes of track time. Initially more than two seconds off the front, the Dutchman made steady progress; by the halfway point of the session, he had climbed to 16th, just 8 tenths of a second off the top spot. Spending much of his time on track riding alone, he focused on his performance with used tyres, opting for a shorter final stint than his rivals, and ultimately finished 19th after completing 16 laps. His best time was a 1:58.077.

Conditions for the intermediate class were quite different as evening set in at the Qatar Grand Prix, as track temperatures dropped to 34°C and humidity approached 70%.

Veijer began the session hovering around the Top 15, posting a lap time 6 tenths of a second faster than his morning effort -and even improving upon his best lap from the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix. He made a significant move up the order following his first Time Attack, climbing to a provisional third place. During his final run, Veijer improved once more, setting his best time on the 13th of his 15 total laps. His 1:56.412 secured him 8th place and marked his 16th direct entry into Q2 out of 18 races. Rueda opted not to take unnecessary risks, given that the track surface was much cooler than it had been during FP1. Sitting 1.5 seconds off the pace, he remained in 25th position for the first quarter of the session, but took a big step at the start of his second run to provisionally break into the Q2  spots. On the 14th of his 16 laps, he improved his time again -shaving 1.2 seconds off his morning best- to secure 11th place in Practice. It was one of his most positive Fridays of the year, as the Spaniard was just 0.6 seconds off the fastest time.

All in all, an excellent start for Veijer and Rueda in Doha, as they skipped Q1 altogether to go straight into the battle for Pole Position with both bikes for the second time in 2026. On Saturday, they will take part in Free Practice 2 starting at 1:15 p.m., before competing in Q2 from 6:10 p.m.

Practice Results
1. Daniel Holgado (Kalex) | 1:55.897
2. Filip Salac (Kalex) | 1:56.096 (+0.199)
3. Izan Guevara (Boscoscuro) | 1:56.136 (+0.239)
4. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) | 1:56.146 (+0.249)
5. Celestino Vietti (Boscoscuro) | 1:56.184 (+0.287)
8. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:56.412 (+0.515)
11. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:56.575 (+0.678)

#95 COLLIN VEIJER

“I’m happy with today. This morning we tried just a single tyre, in order to find some feeling and to at least have some significant riding time. Practice was not so bad, as we tried to build our feeling around our morning work, and we started to get better and better. We rode the second stint alone and then the third with a tow, in order to secure our place in Q2. We still have margin for improvement, so this is very good news for tomorrow. Now we need to finetune some details and go again on Saturday to take another positive step here at Lusail”.

#98 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“Conditions were good during FP1, and I felt very comfortable. I really like the Lusail circuit, and I’ve enjoyed it much more on a Moto2 bike than I did on a Moto3 machine. In Practice we managed to put in a good lap to secure a spot in Q2, which was our main goal for today. I had a lot of fun riding this bike at night, so it’s been a successful first day. Now, we’ll look to fine-tune a few details so we can keep improving tomorrow; as that will be key to solidifying a strong foundation for Sunday’s race”.