Aron Canet is eyeing a recovery race after he qualified 21st at the San Marino GP on Saturday, while Deniz Öncü was 26th.

Heavy overnight rain meant the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli was damp but drying during Moto2 FP2 on Saturday morning, with slick tyres used from the midway point of the session.

But the grippy track surface had dried out come qualifying in the early afternoon with temperatures hitting 26 degrees.

Despite today’s result, Elf Marc VDS Racing Team duo Aron Canet and Deniz Öncü are still eager to face Sunday’s 22-lap race, which kicks off at 12:15 local time.

Aron Canet, 21st – 1’35.016

Conditions were tricky in FP2, and times were 1.1s slower than Senna Agius’ fastest time from Friday. Aron managed to post eight laps was 15th at the end of play.

The Spaniard had a solid first run in Q1, when his 1’35.300 was initially enough for a spot in the top three.

The 26-year old was able to shave close to 0.3s off his personal best in his final run, but could only place seventh in the session.

“We have to keep our heads up and aim high tomorrow” 

Aron’s comments:

“I’m really disappointed with how today went. Yesterday was positive and I felt like we had made progress after a few important technical meetings with my crew. But it’s a similar story to the past few months. When temperatures go up, we seem to struggle, especially in time attack mode. It was a shame to lose a bit of FP2 due to the weather. But if we can get back the feeling I had yesterday, then I’m sure we can get stuck in tomorrow. A good first lap is essential. From there, we’ll be looking to score some good points. We have to keep our heads up and aim high, so let’s see what we can do.” 

Deniz Öncü, 26th – 1’35.516  

Deniz didn’t feel fully comfortably in the iffy morning conditions. Understanding there was no point in taking big risks, the Turkish rider placed 21st.

The 23-year old didn’t have the best first run in Q1 as he posted a 1’35.985 on his second flying lap.

Although he improved more than 0.4s in his second run, his final time was only good enough for twelfth.

“The good thing is we were able to fight back in the past two GPs”

Deniz’s comments:

“We have finished the second day here in Misano. It was a tough day. I thought yesterday was hard and we hoped for more improvements. It was a bit annoying to lose part of FP2 as we planned to try a few things with set-up then. It’s hard to explain what happened in Q1. I just didn’t feel comfortable from the start. I’ve tried changing the way I ride a few times this weekend but nothing has really worked so far. The good thing is we were able to fight back really well in the past two GPs. Qualifying 26th isn’t ideal. But I’ll give my all like I always do and if we have a great first lap, let’s see where we end up.”