Aron Canet was 24th at the end of play on Friday at the Indonesian Grand Prix while Deniz Öncü was 26th after suffering a fast Turn 15 crash. 

Just five days on from the mild temperatures experienced in Japan, the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team had to adapt to searing track temperatures of 59 degrees and humidity of 72% at the Mandalika International Circuit on Friday.

The Moto2 Practice session was stopped with eleven minutes to go due to connectivity issues that affect the Stewards’ Room and Timekeeping. After a delay of around 30 minutes, the session could conclude.

The Moto2 action continues on Saturday. Aron and Deniz will have a chance to further work on their respective settings at 09:25 local time in FP2 before qualifying kicks off at 13:40.

Aron Canet, 24th – 1’33.394

At one of his favourite tracks, Aron had a solid start to the day and placed 19th in the weekend’s first section in FP1 when the track was quite dirty.

Conditions had improved come the afternoon with more grip on track and the pace was hot, with Izan Guevara setting a new outright Moto2 lap record.

Times were exceptionally tight through the afternoon, too. Even if Aron ended the session in 24th, he was just 1.057s off Guevara’s fastest time.

“I just missed that last bit after the red flag to push again”

Aron’s comments:

“A shame we couldn’t make it into Q2 automatically. In the morning, the track was very dirty and it was difficult to find a good feeling, or have any confidence in the front. It improved by the afternoon and was I was able to be quite fast and consistent. It felt like our pace was quite good but I just missed that last bit after the red flag to push again. It’s very hot out there and the humidity makes it physical. But I feel we’re not as far away as it looks. We’ll give everything to get into Q2 tomorrow and hopefully we can be close to the top ten.” 

Deniz Öncü, 26th – 1’33.776 

After scoring a season’s best result in Japan, Deniz didn’t have an ideal feeling in FP1 as he set the 25th fastest time.

The Turkish rider had a fast get off toward the end of Practice when he lost the front through Turn 15. While rider was largely unharmed, his bike was not.

That brought Deniz’s session to an untimely end and he was shuffled back to 26th place in the Practice standings.

“Apart from the crash, I’m optimistic for Saturday” 

Deniz’s comments:

“We finished the first day here in Indonesia. Honestly, it was a difficult start for us because of the conditions. The feelings with the bike weren’t great and then we had a big crash. Luckily, I’m fine. A big thanks to Alpinestars and Shoei for keeping me safe. I’m sorry for the guys because I’ve given them a lot of work to do to fix the bike ahead of tomorrow. Apart from that, I’m optimistic for Saturday. We’ll pick up tomorrow where we finished today and I’ll be aiming to get into Q2 and then take the day from there.”