Aron Canet was 15^th and Deniz Oncu 17^th in their first qualifying sessions for the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team.

Saturday witnessed the first qualifying sessions of the 2026 Moto2 season around the fast, technical Chang International Circuit in Buriram.

If Friday was humid and overcast, Saturday was clear and blazing hot. Conditions were punishing during Q2 with track temperatures touching a sweltering 53 degrees.

The first Moto2 race of 2026 kicks off on Sunday at 13:15 local time and will be held over 22 laps.

Aron Canet, 15^th – 1’35.200

After a challenging Friday, Aron used FP2 to do two longer runs as he continued to adjust his riding style to his 2026 package. The Spaniard was 18^th in the session.

Thanks to a few small set-up tweaks, Aron gradually gained speed and his late time of 1’35.120 pushed him to 3^rd in Q1 and into Q2.

While still not completely comfortable on his new package, the 26-year old felt he made strong progress on Saturday. His best time of the day was 0.6s faster than his personal best from yesterday.

Aron’s comments:

“Today we did one step forward in terms of my feeling on the bike. We were struggling a lot this weekend because we didn’t do a lot of laps during preseason, and also here as I lost some time in FP1. But I think we’re starting to arrive somewhere close to a good set-up – it’s still not perfect, but we’ve definitely made good progress at this track. We need to keep improving, for tomorrow and the next races. Let’s go for it tomorrow. I’ll take the race lap-by-lap, try to keep improving and focus on myself to get the best out of the bike that I can.” 

Deniz Oncu, 17^th – 1’35.888

Having made steady progress through Friday, Deniz posted two longer runs during FP2, when he placed 15^th and set a host of laps in the 1’35s.

The 22-year old had clearly gained speed in Q1, where he placed 2^nd to gain a place in Q2 thanks to a strong time of 1’35.013.

In Q2, Deniz was held up behind another rider and caught yellow flags when using his only new rear tyre. But he’s prepped to gain places and move forward in Sunday’s race.

Deniz’s comments:

“Today we did some steps. Every day I’m feeling a better understanding with the bike. For Q1 we did a good job and we managed to get through to Q2. But that meant we only had one new tyre left so I only had three laps to set a good time. In two of these, I was following (Barry) Baltus and I got a bit held up behind. I couldn’t finish these two laps with a fast enough time. Then on the third I saw a yellow flag. With this new rule, you have to close the throttle when you see it. If not, there could be a penalty. Unfortunately, I didn’t set a great time in Q2. Tomorrow I’ll start 17^th. I’ll just do my best and aim to score as many points as possible.”