Aron Canet continued making improvements at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans and placed 12th at the close of Practice, while Deniz Oncu was 20th. 

The historic Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans hosts this year’s French Grand Prix and since Thursday tens of thousands of passionate fans have populated the various grandstands around the track.

While the weather forecast isn’t great for race day, Le Mans was bathed in sunshine during Friday afternoon with sunny conditions and ambient temperatures of 21 degrees greeting the riders for afternoon Practice.

Tomorrow’s action starts early. Moto2 FP2 kicks off at 9:25 local time before qualifying gets underway at 13:40.

Aron Canet, 12th – 1’34.744 

Aron was thankful to find he was feeling physically OK on the bike in Friday morning after his race crash at his home GP at Jerez.

A strong late run resulted in the 26-year old jumping up to 10th at the end of FP1. And further set-up tweaks in the afternoon saw him place 12th in Practice.

Times were tight throughout the day. Aron’s fastest Practice time was less than 0.4s off pace setter Izan Guevara’s personal best.

“We’ve improved the package”

Aron’s comments:

“It’s the first time this year we’ve gone through to Q2 directly this year, so we have to be happy. It’s finally arrived! The improvement hasn’t just come by myself with this bike – we’ve improved the package. Let’s see tomorrow if the others get faster. But my feeling at this track is better than before. I’m hopeful we can achieve something decent tomorrow.” 

Deniz Oncu, 20th – 1’35.162 

Deniz posted two runs to start the day in FP1. His first flying lap in run two put him 14th at the end of the session.

The Turkish rider’s speed at the start of Practice was strong, with his first flying lap putting him inside the top ten places in the early parts of the session.

But the 22-year old was unable to improve on his 1’35.162 in the closing laps, despite his best efforts. This is an area Deniz plans to work on with his team on Friday afternoon.

“I was quite fast in FP1 and was happy with my feeling”

Deniz’s comments:

“So, day one is finished here in France. It was a decent day. I was quite fast in FP1 and was happy with my feeling. But in the hotter conditions this afternoon, it was a little trickier. We have some things now to check and improve for tomorrow. We had good conditions today. Let’s see how it will be tomorrow as there is a chance of rain. But we’ll continue working checking some data and tomorrow we’ll push more.”