On a day marked by tricky weather conditions, Tony Arbolino kept mistakes to a minimum as he took 7^th in qualifying at the Buddh International Circuit while Sam Lowes qualified 12^th.

• Tropical conditions greeted Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Sam Lowes and Tony Arbolino at the Buddh International Circuit for P3, where riders had to contend with track temperatures of 37 degrees and sweltering 72% humidity.
• But a heavy deluge of rain during Moto3 qualifying led to a long delay and Moto2 Q2 got underway 50 minutes behind schedule as a result. Even though the track was drying, riders went out with wet tyres and settings for the 15-minute session.

/// SAM LOWES, 12^th – 2’03.536

• After a much-needed full night’s sleep, Sam felt refreshed as he took to the track for P3. He showed strong rhythm, posting one lap in the 1’51s and six in the 1’52s. He ended the morning in 9^th even if his fastest time was cancelled due to a yellow flag.
• But the 33-year old didn’t feel comfortable in the mixed conditions in Q2 and finished 12^th, 1.6s off pole position.

“We need to understand those half-and-half conditions a bit better”

“Obviously, I’m slightly disappointed with the qualifying because this morning was a very positive session and I felt really good. I lost my best lap because of a yellow flag, but I was strong. Then in qualifying, when we had drying conditions with wet tyres, I just didn’t have a great feeling. In the end 12^th isn’t fantastic but it was a strange, complicated session. Overall, we made big steps in P3 and the team did a great job to give me a better bike. We’ve made a big step from Friday. We need to understand those half-and-half conditions a bit better. But hopefully tomorrow will be dry. We can look to the race in a positive way. We just need to get a good night’s sleep, start well and then use our pace to get a nice result.”

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 7^th – 2’02.958

• Tony tried out a variety of settings in a very competitive P3 session in the morning. He ended 15^th, 0.591s off 1^st but qualified automatically for Q2 thanks to his best time from Friday.
• The Italian didn’t feel entirely comfortable in the mixed conditions in Q2, but he still took 7^th, his twelfth top ten qualifying performance in 13 rounds this year.

“Our performance in the race will speak for itself!”

“It was a difficult day today because of the conditions. We had to try everything in qualifying. The conditions were improving lap-by-lap and we didn’t feel so great. Anyway, we are close to the race and we’ll have different feelings tomorrow if it’s fully dry. We need to check the data this evening to see if we can improve as much as we can to be ready for Sunday. Our performance in the race will speak for itself!”