The first day of this Australian Grand Prix was eventful, both in terms of the weather and the events for Red Bull KTM Garlic. Victim of a fall, Celestino Vietti will have to withdraw from the weekend prematurely to recover from a fracture.
Unlike MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 had the chance to run a full first free practice session, although the rain also played a part. However, this outing on the track was not a rest for everyone, and Celestino Vietti will not deny it.
The Italian suffered a heavy crash at Turn 4 after just five laps and was unable to return to the track. After a visit to the medical centre, he was declared unfit to ride this afternoon, as well as for the remainder of the Australian Grand Prix, which he will be forced to retire from.
He will now have to take time to recover from a broken collarbone that occurred at the worst possible time, as the discipline is preparing to contest a series of three consecutive meetings. Celestino Vietti's participation in the Thailand Grand Prix, as well as the following meeting in Malaysia, remains to be confirmed.
Deniz Oncu, Moto2, Australian MotoGP, October 18, 2024
Despite everything on the other side of the garage, things went rather well for Deniz Oncu. After 18 laps in FP, the intermediate class rookie took sixth place thanks to a time of 1:42.276. In P1, Öncü continued in this vein, in better conditions, he was able to finish Friday ninth, in 1:33.600. At the end of this tumultuous day for the KTM Ajo team, the #53 wanted to say a few words to his garage neighbour.
"It was very easy to fall in these delicate conditions, recalls the Turk. But we didn't do it. My teammate crashed and was injured, so I wish him a speedy recovery. Tomorrow in qualifying I will try to do my best, and hopefully it will be good and we can have a good race on Sunday, which is my goal for the weekend."
