Deniz Oncu fought through from 17^th to score an excellent 9^th place in a Moto2 race that was red flagged twice, while Aron Canet took a solid 11^th place.

Thailand’s Chang International Circuit hosted a dramatic first race of 2026, which was red flagged on two occasions, as both Aron Canet and Deniz Oncu made their race debuts for the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team.

First, a crash between David Alonso, Senna Agius and Filip Salac caused a stoppage three laps in to the original. Another red flag was shown just three turns into the restart when Sergio Garcia and Luca Lunetta tangled.

The second restart was then held over just 7 laps. A bumper attendance of 91,455 showed up to watch the first race of the new season.

Aron Canet, 11^th

After starting the original race in 15^th, Aron lined up in 11^th for the restart. But he had used up all spare tyres, meaning he couldn’t fit new rubber for 7-lap sprint.

The 26-year old held his position in the pack thanks to a steady start. But he was soon unable to use his rear brake due to a technical issue.

The Spaniard brought it home for a solid first race for the team and aboard the Boscoscuro chassis and is confident of finding further improvements for the next race.

Aron’s comments:

“I think we now have a much better package for the next race”

“Today went OK! The balance of the weekend was a positive one. We improved and understood a lot of things with the bike here in Thailand. I think we now have a much better package for the next race in Brazil. The problem during the race was we didn’t have new tyres for the restart, as we saved only one set for today. But this is racing and sometimes this can happen. Also, the rear brake lever was broken from the third lap. So, this meant riding was really, really difficult. But in the end, we saved some good points. Let’s see how we go forward from here, but I’m definitely feeling better and more confident than I was last week.” 

Deniz Oncu, 9^th

After launching from 17^th in the original race, Deniz gained 5 places for the restart. And a brilliant start meant he ended lap 1 in 10^th place.

The Turkish rider showed strong rhythm over the Sprint and finished just 5s off victor Manuel Gonzalez at the close of the 7 laps.

Considering this was Deniz’s first Moto2 race since last July due to injury, this was a fantastic showing for the 22-year old.

Deniz’s comments:

“We achieved the goal we set yesterday for today”

“First of all, I hope everybody that crashed today is OK. I hope there were no injuries suffered. For my race it was very strange. It was the first time I’ve raced for a very long time because of my injury. I liked a lot this feeling of being back as a racer. Also, starting the year in this heat was quite tough! And then we had two red flags, which was weird. But it is how it is. We were inside the top ten. I was ninth and scored some good points. I’m going to take the positives from this weekend. We achieved the goal we set yesterday for today. But I’m still not happy about how I raced today. I have bigger objectives than this and want to achieve a lot more. This is not my potential. I’m going to work harder, understand this bike more and find the feeling to ride faster. I’m super motivated to do more!”