In sweltering temperatures, Aron Canet placed 19th at the close of Practice, while Deniz Öncü was 23rd. 

Sun and blue skies greeted Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Aron Canet and Deniz Öncü on Friday at the fabulous Brno Circuit, with ambient temperatures 30 degrees during Practice.

The afternoon Moto2 session was red flagged ten minutes in after Barry Baltus crashed at Turn 13. After a brief stoppage, the remaining 29 minutes took place.

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

Aron Canet, 19th – 1’59.343 

After last year’s visit, Aron used FP1 to familiarise himself with the fabulous 5.4km layout. He finished the weekend’s first session in 20th.

Aron’s long run was interrupted by the red flag. But he used impressive consistency in the session’s first half as all seven of his flying laps were in the 2’00s.

Despite improving his personal best from FP1 by close to seven tenths of a second, Canet ended Practice in 19th, just 0.8s off pace setter David Alonso.

“I’m still missing a bit of feeling in several areas” 

Aron’s comments:

“It was a difficult day. This is a great track and I enjoy riding around here. The layout is challenging but fun. But we couldn’t get comfortable on the bike today. I’m still missing a bit of feeling in several areas. We’re working hard though. The team understand my comments and we’ll have a meeting this evening to decide on some changes for tomorrow. Let’s see if we can make another step tomorrow.” 

Deniz Öncü, 23rd – 1’59.695 

Deniz started the weekend by setting the 17th fastest time in FP1. And the 22-year old showed solid consistency starting Practice with all three of his first flying laps in the 1’59s.

But the Turkish rider was unable to significantly lower his pace in the time attack at the close of Practice. Despite finishing just 1.1s off first, Deniz was 23rd at the end of play.

One positive came in the form of top speed, as Deniz was the second fastest rider through the speed traps on Friday with the Turkish rider clocking 269.3kph.

“It’s important to overcome the problems we’re having” 

Deniz’s comments:

“We’ve finished the first day of riding here in Czechia. It’s true that there is a lot of margin for us to improve. It’s important to understand how we do that and to overcome the problems we’re having. This evening we’ll have to analyse everything and work out how we can go faster tomorrow.”