Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Tony Arbolino and Senna Agius enjoyed a day of constant progress to kick off the Grand Prix of San Marino at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

•  Two dry sessions on Italy’s Adriatic Coast enabled Arbolino and Agius to experiment with different set-up options, with both working tirelessly to improve front feeling with their Kalex machinery.
• FP3 gets underway tomorrow at 1055am local time, which is followed by Moto2 qualifying action that commences at 1510pm.

/// TONY ARBOLINO: 10^th, 1:36.935, 37 laps

• Improving stability on corner entry was the main focus for Arbolino in FP1 and the Italian closed the morning session comfortably inside the top 10 with a fastest time of 1:37.251.
• Attention turned to gaining more agility in Misano’s high-speed changes of direction in sunny and warm conditions this afternoon and the Italian finished 10^th on the combined leaderboard with a quickest time of 1:36.935.

“I’m already optimistic about having a great race”

“I’ve felt really good on the bike today and the most important thing is we improved my feeling this afternoon. I did all my laps on my own today and my pace was fast and consistent, so it’s pleasing to see our recent hard work is paying off. I had the confidence to push and I still feel like we have quite a big margin to improve and that will put me closer to the front. I’m already very optimistic about our potential to have a great race on Sunday.”

/// SENNA AGIUS: 27^th, 1:38.204, 39 laps

• The Australian teenager completed 20 important data gathering laps this morning while concentrating on assessing Dunlop’s soft front and hard rear tyre combination throughout FP1.
• Keen to collect as much slick tyre information as possible ahead of predictions for rain conditions during the remainder of the weekend, Agius opted to focus on the hard front and soft rear compound options in the afternoon to improve by 0.3 with a 1:38.204.

“We gained a lot of information and experience”

“Today has been a positive day and we were able to gain a lot of information and experience. This track poses a different challenge to Austria and my main goal was getting the bike to turn better. We made good progress throughout the day but I still feel we are missing something in that area. There’s no doubt a lot of it has to come from myself and my riding style but I am looking forward to making some changes overnight and being stronger again tomorrow.”