Can Öncü's career in Grands Prix has been atypical to say the least: winner in the rain in his first race in Valencia in 2018 after winning the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, the very young Turkish driver (16 years old) did not then only participated in 16 events before having to migrate to the Supersport category where he will compete next year.
Certainly, after such a fanfare start, his 2019 season was somewhat disappointing, just capped by a 12th place on the same circuit which had seen him triumph a year earlier. But honestly, being thrown out of the Grands Prix at 16 seems a bit of an injustice to us because it seems obvious that this boy still has his whole future ahead of him...
In any case, it is therefore in the Supersport category and under the colors of the Turkish Racing Team that the twin brother of Sea Defence (next year at Red Bull KTM Tech3 in Moto3) will line up in 2020 in a structure born from the collaboration between Orelac Racing and Manuel Puccetti.
He will also benefit from the advice of the very experienced Kenan Sofuoglu as well as joint training with the rising Superbike star, his compatriot Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The transition from the KTM 250 cc to the Kawasaki 600 cc was smooth during the winter tests in Jerez, Can Öncü currently revealed to be 2 seconds behind the fastest present in Andalusia, Andrea Locatelli (1'44.779 vs 1'42.683).
This is a gap which should logically decrease during the next tests on the same circuit at the end of January.
Then the young Turk benefited from a session in the wind tunnel to refine his position on his bike in the intermediate category (opening photo on the 1000 of Toprak Razgatlioglu).
Let's hope he flourishes better in this new category than in Moto3, even if it means, perhaps, seeing him return one day to the Moto2 Grand Prix...
PS: Lucas Mahias (Puccetti Racing) of course benefited from the same wind tunnel program…
