Collin Veijer to line up on the eighth row at Misano

Collin Veijer made solid progress on the second day of the San Marino Grand Prix, although his starting position does not fully reflect his performance. The Dutchman narrowly missed out on advancing to Q2 by just two tenths of a second and will line up 20th on the grid.

In cooler conditions than Friday’s FP1, Moto2 FP2 got Saturday underway with track temperatures of just 19ºC. Collin Veijer needed to make the most of the session to recover the time lost the previous day and focused on a long run with used tyres to fine-tune his race pace. He quickly improved on his Friday benchmark, moving into the Top 20. Switching to new tyres in the final minutes, he climbed to eleventh with a 1:35.110 – almost a full second faster than his best lap from Friday. In total, he completed 15 laps.

Q1 took place in conditions similar to Friday’s Practice session, with track temperatures rising to 36ºC. After a steady start, Veijer gradually lowered his times and produced his best lap on the final attempt. His first two sectors were the fastest of all, but a costly loss of time in the third sector left him with a 1:34.944 – not enough to progress into Q2. Despite this, his lap time would have been quicker than several riders who did qualify for the Pole Position shootout, underlining the Dutchman’s potential. Veijer will therefore start from 20th on the grid.

Collin Veijer: “Today went quite well. We had a good feeling in the morning – both when working on our pace and in the Time Attack. In the afternoon we tried to get into Q2, but in the end it wasn’t possible. Our flying laps were strong, but I lost a lot of time in the third sector, exactly where I had the big crash yesterday. We still put in a good lap, but Moto2 is a very tough class and missing yesterday’s session definitely had an impact. For tomorrow, we’ll try to fight back. Our pace is good, so I’m looking forward to a strong Sunday and to enjoying it to the fullest here at Misano.”

The 22-lap Moto2 San Marino Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. local time.