While Aron Canet was 18th and Deniz Oncu 20th at the end of the first day at the British Grand Prix, both riders saw reason for optimism ahead of qualifying day. 

The legendary Silverstone Circuit hosts the twelfth round of the 2026 Moto2 World Championship this weekend.

Friday in the south of England started out in cool conditions, before ambient temperatures rose to 23 degrees in the afternoon.

Despite Silverstone having the longest track layout on the calendar, the Moto2 action was tight on Friday afternoon with 13 riders covered by just one second.

Aron Canet, 18th – 2’02.998 

Around one of his favourite circuits, Aron started Friday well as he posted the twelfth fastest time in FP1, 1.3s off pace setter Manuel Gonzalez.

Aron used the first part of Practice to put his consistency to the test. The Spaniard was constant over an 9-lap run. Three of those times were in the 2’03s and four came in the 2’04s.

While he was pushing in the final minutes, the 26-year old couldn’t extract the maximum from his package over a flying lap – a clear area to improve on Saturday.

“The aim will be to get through to Q2 and then make a good qualifying” 

Aron’s comments:

“The first day here in Silverstone was a difficult one. We are working on the bike and also my riding style. I’m trying to change how I brake in the heavy braking zones and also how I apply the throttle. Let’s see how we are tomorrow. We have a few ideas for changes to make to the bike. I love this track and have scored good results here in the past. That gives me confidence. The aim will be to get through to Q2 and then make a good qualifying to be as high up the grid as possible.” 

Deniz Öncü, 20th – 2’03.083 

Deniz gradually got up to speed on Friday morning as he set the 22nd fastest time while noting several areas where the bike setting could improve.

The 23-year old enjoyed a productive first run in Practice as he set five laps in the 2’03s during a nine-lap run.

Even if his outright speed was lacking after, Deniz felt much more comfortable through the day and saw his personal best time improve by 1.3s from FP1 to Practice.

“We did an improvement from the morning in the afternoon” 

Deniz’s comments:

“We finished the first day here in England. It was a really difficult day. We made an OK start and did an improvement from the morning in the afternoon. We changed the front fork and I was feeling better. Still, it’s not easy. I have a lot of problems. We just need to sit down, work together, find a solution and keep pushing. We’ll give it a good go tomorrow.”