Due to complications with the asphalt at the Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia – Ayrton Senna, Moto2 qualifying has been moved to Sunday morning at 9:40 local time, with the 26-lap race to follow.

After rain complicated matters at the first Brazilian Grand Prix since 2004 on Friday, Saturday took an unexpected turn at lunchtime when a sink hole was discovered on the inside of the start-finish straight.

As a result, Moto2 qualifying was initially pushed back to the end of Saturday afternoon instead of its original time of 13:40 local time.

But when repairs to the track took longer than anticipated, the Q1 and Q2 sessions for the intermediate class were postponed to Sunday. Qualifying will now get underway at 9:40.

The rest of Sunday’s schedule remains unchanged. Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Aron Canet and Deniz Oncu will race at 13:15 over 26 laps.

The day’s dramatic developments meant Aron and Deniz just had the 30-minute FP2 session to get up to speed in dry conditions and hot temperatures of 27 degrees.

Aron Canet, 21^st in FP2 – 1’22.356

Aron’s goal in FP2 was clear: to do as many laps as possible and continue adapting to this year’s package. The Spaniard did two runs in the session, with his second totalling nine laps.

Although he didn’t feature at the top of the time sheets, the 26-year old feels he is making progress aboard his Elf Marc VDS Racing Team machine, and is starting to ride it in a more natural way.

“I felt I was riding the bike in a better way”

Aron’s comments:

“This morning we made some improvements and I felt I was riding the bike in a better way than before. I was focussed 100 percent to do as many laps as possible at my highest potential. So, after that, we’ve understood some things on the bike. It’s not an ideal situation to not have qualifying today, when we were planning on testing some things we had intended from this morning’s session. But let’s see tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy day, as we’ll be qualifying in the morning before we go racing. We’re ready to give our all!”

Deniz Oncu, 28^th in FP2 – 1’22.801

Like his team-mate, Deniz’s focus was on maximising the dry track time in FP2 after Friday morning’s rain. The Turkish rider completed 18 laps overall.

The 22-year old is confident of finding improvements ahead of Sunday’s revised schedule after not feeling fully comfortable on Saturday morning. Despite placing outside the top 20, Deniz was less than a second from a top four place.

“We still have good potential to fight at the front if I find something”

Deniz’s comments:

“We finished the second day in Brazil. We haven’t done qualifying today but we’ll do it in the morning instead. I’m feeling positive as it will be like a warm-up before the race. In this morning’s free practice, I wasn’t really happy with what I did. I just wasn’t fully comfortable out there. But hopefully we can find something with a few changes to the set-up. Also, I’ll look at ways to improve my feeling so I can be at my normal level. We still have good potential to fight at the front if I find something. So that’s definitely our goal for tomorrow!”