Deniz Öncü was unable to showcase his outright speed at the close of Practice as he placed 23rd despite showing decent speed through the day, while Aron Canet was 26th. 

After a two-week break the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team was back on track on Friday at the spectacular Motorland Aragon circuit, where ambient temperatures hit 24 degrees.

The pace was as hot as the weather in the Teruel region of Spain with Ivan Ortola breaking the previous lap record in Friday afternoon’s Practice session.

Saturday’s action will get underway at 9:25 local time tomorrow when FP2 kicks off before qualifying starts at 13:40.

Aron Canet, 26th – 1’51.080 

Aron started the weekend off in steady fashion, as he set the 28th fastest time in FP1.

The Spaniard searched for some improvements to his setting in the afternoon to give him greater front-end feel while he posted three runs of three laps apiece.

Despite improving on his previous best by 0.6s, the 26-year old’s final lap time of the day was only good enough for 26th.

“I want more and the team wants more”

Aron’s comments:

“Well, that was a tricky start to the weekend. Honestly, I didn’t have a good feeling in FP1. The track felt dirty and I struggled to find any confidence. There are so many long, fast corners here that if you don’t fully understand what the front tyre is doing, it’s tough. We made some changes in the afternoon. There were a few small improvements. I know it doesn’t look great when we’re 26th. I want more and the team wants more. But I’m sure there are some improvements we can make here before tomorrow. Let’s see how we go.” 

Deniz Öncü, 23rd – 1’51.005 

Returning to the scene of his last Grand Prix win, Deniz showed some immediate speed on Friday morning when he set the 12th fastest time.

The Turkish rider posted an 8-lap run at the start of Practice, where he struggled a little with consistency. This will be an area to work on this afternoon.

In the final time attack, the 23-year old improved his personal best by one second but was 23rd, 1.2s back of Ortola’s new lap record.

“I think there is a big margin to improve so let’s make some clever moves” 

Deniz’s comments:

“We finished the first day here in Aragon. It was a tough first day of the weekend. We have to analyse everything and improve ourselves for tomorrow. I think there is a big margin to improve so let’s make some clever moves. If we make it into Q2 tomorrow, I still think we’ll have a good chance to score a result on Sunday.”