The Turkish rider finishes in a well-deserved third position, with Celestino Vietti tenth.

An exciting Sunday at the Aragon Grand Prix saw Deniz Öncü consolidate his progress and earn third place for Red Bull KTM Ajo, whilst his teammate, Celestino Vietti, was tenth after a collision with another rider.

Öncü enjoyed his best weekend since his debut in the intermediate class, and showed that he has fully recovered from his hand injury and is back with renewed energy. Starting the race from the second row of the grid, he got off the line well and remained in the Top 5. Öncü was involved in a collision with another rider, but this did not prevent him from continuing to climb the order and maintaining a very fast pace to reach the front. On the final laps he claimed third position, going on to take his first podium in Moto2.

Vietti had a solid weekend at MotorLand Aragon. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider started the race from ninth and stuck in the group, riding consistently and moving up the order. He got closer to the Top 5, until after the first half of the race had elapsed, an incident with another rider caused him to lose some positions and ruled him out of a rostrum challenge.Vietti crossed the line in tenth position, at Grand Prix in which the final result did not reflect the great work he had done during the weekend.

Aki Ajo – Team Manager

“Overall it has been a really good weekend for us in Moto2. First of all, congratulations to Deniz for his first podium, which maybe came a bit earlier then expected, especially after his time out through injury. Sine he came back he has performed really well, and I believe that this break has also helped him mentally, as he was missing something in the races. Those difficult moments and negatives always teach you more. It seems that he made the most of it, and he showed something similar to what we saw from him last year in Moto3. This is a good step forward for him and it is just the beginning of his Moto2 career. We need to keep calm and focus on his progress. It was also a good weekend for Celestino, but unfortunately after another rider’s mistake he was hindered a lot. Otherwise, I think that he would have been able to fight for the podium with Deniz. But I also like to take the positives away: Celestino won in Austria and I am sure he will be back very strong at Misano. I’m really enthusiastic about the coming races and really happy to be back at the track in three days’ time.”

#13 CELESTINO VIETTI

“I am not super very happy about today, because of course we wanted a bit more. With the collision with Roberts I lost a lot of time and a lot of positions. Anyway, the feeling was good and we were quite fast during the whole weekend. We were not the fastest, but we would be able to fight for the Top 5. We have to take the positives and now we go to Misano, my home GP. It is also a circuit that I really like a lot. Despite the result, we are taking away the positives, we will go there with a good feeling with the bike and try to have two good races there. Thank you to the team for the good job they did here.”

#53 DENIZ ÖNCÜ

“It has been a very positive weekend. After coming back from injury, we have been taking big steps forward, both me with my riding and also my work with the team. The big difference is that I have started to enjoy the bike, not only focusing on performance and putting pressure on myself. During the break because of the injury, I realised that; not I’ve started enjoying every lap. This has brought me these good results. It’s my first podium in Moto2, but I will only be completely happy once I get the victory. Let’s keep pushing.”

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider snatches the win, while Xabi Zurutuza completes his best race this year in eighth.

There was a great finale to the Aragon Grand Prix for Red Bull KTM Ajo. Jose Antonio Rueda finally achieved his long-awaited first victory in the class, managing the race to perfection. Xabi Zurutuza also claimed his best result of the season, finishing eighth.

Rueda faced a difficult race due to the track conditions, with some wet areas still present at the start. After taking off from the front row of the grid, he dropped positions off the line, although he remained in the leading group. After the initial laps, the race leader increased the gap, although those behind him progressively managed to catch back up. Rueda had gone down to fifth, but maintained a great pace to claw his way back to the podium positions, then set his sights on the win. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider made a double overtake to move into second, then grabbed the lead and pulled away to finish almost 2 seconds clear of his nearest rival. It was his first win in the Moto3 World Championship, having debuted in 2023.

Zurutuza was forced to start from the back of the grid after a difficult qualifying session at MotorLand Aragon. In contrast to his teammate, he made a strong start and in just a few laps he was already in the Top 10. The Moto3 rookie maintained a great pace and was very consistent lap after lap, fighting with his rivals to hold his position, and after the first half of the race he had reached seventh position. The Spaniard finally crossed the finish line in eighth place, his best result in the class to date, having made great progress throughout the weekend.

Aki Ajo – Team Manager

“I am so happy with the progress that we have made in Moto3. There were difficult times at the beginning of the season, and then we had some ups and downs, but this is our best result of the year so far. It is just the beginning and we want to move forward and try to repeat it in the future. I am really proud of Jose Antonio and Xabi. The first win for José Antonio was something I believed in and this helped him to feel more free, to enjoy the races and to do his best every weekend. For Xabi it was also a very positive race, and I hope he will feel less pressure in the next few weekends to be able to have solid races. I am really looking forward to this, and really happy that we will be back on track in 3 days at Misano.”

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“I am very happy with this first victory. It has been a very difficult start to the year due to the injury and everything else that happened to us. I was really looking forward to coming to this circuit, because I like it a lot and it is very special for me. I want to thank my friend Hugo Millán for everything he taught me and dedicate this win to him. After so long I had extra pressure to win, so we have finally managed it together. You should never give up, so we keep fighting and we hope there will be more victories.”

#85 XABI ZURUTUZA

“We have finished the Aragon GP in the best possible way. It was a crazy race with lots of overtaking, as I started very far back. I am very happy with this result, as it was a difficult weekend for us. But we already have our sights set on Misano and we will continue working to continue in this way.”