Deniz Öncü was pushed out of the top four places in Q1 in the final moments, meaning he’ll start tomorrow’s Aragon Grand Prix from 19th, while Aron Canet was 23rd. 

Conditions were sweltering at Motorland Aragon on Saturday with clear, blue skies and ambient temperatures of 28 degrees greeting Elf Marc VDS Racing riders during qualifying.

Times were seriously competitive all day with Alonso Lopez’s pole position time 0.5s under last year’s outright lap record.

After a change at Silverstone, Sunday’s schedule returns to normal with the 19-lap Moto2 race kicking off at 12:15 local time.

Aron Canet, 23rd – 1’50.865 

After a tricky opening day in Aragon, Aron posted a 16-lap run in FP2 while trying some alterations to his setting. He set the 25th fastest time.

The Spaniard worked with his crew later in the morning in a bid to further improve his feeling ahead of Q1.

But the 26-year old struggles in the second half of the lap continued as he placed ninth.

“We made a little progress today compared to day one” 

Aron’s comments:

“Another day in the books. We made a little progress today compared to day one, when I didn’t feel comfortable. The grip felt a bit better today and I felt I could push a bit more. But we still have this problem in the time attack, when I feel like I can’t take out the maximum of the bike. It’s frustrating. I’ve tried changing my riding style and we’ve changed the bike. But there is still that limitation. Anyway, now is the time to focus on tomorrow. The race will be a long one and we’ll need to be clever with the front and rear tyre management. Let’s get stuck in and see if we can score some points.” 

Deniz Öncü, 19th – 1’50.355 

After a promising opening day, Deniz was able to set some consistent times over a 16-lap run in FP2, when he placed 15th.

The Turkish rider was eager to give it his all in Q1. He started the session well, and was sat inside the top four places at the mid-way point.

Despite showing great speed in the final sector, the 23-year old was let down by sector three, where he will attempt to find improvements ahead of tomorrow.

“The goal will be to score the maximum number of points possible” 

Deniz’s comments:

“We finished the second day here in Aragon. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pass through to Q2. We could have done a better position. Anyway, tomorrow we’ll start from 19th. I’ll try to do my best and the goal will be to score the maximum number of points possible.”