On a day when 1s covered the 19 fastest Moto2 riders, Tony Arbolino set the 10^th fastest time on Friday at the Chang International Circuit, while Sam Lowes was 19^th.

• After the cold, wet and windy conditions experienced at Phillip Island 5 days ago, Friday’s conditions in Buriram, Thailand were most welcome as ambient temperatures hit 34 degrees for the afternoon P2 session.
• Despite forecasts which predicted rain on Friday, it remained dry for both of Moto2’s Practice sessions at the 4.55km Chang International Circuit.

/// SAM LOWES, 19th – 1’36.959

• Sam struggled to find an optimal feeling in P1 with the front tyre and couldn’t carry the desired corner speed, which left him 17^th in the session.
• The Briton’s team made changes to gearing and suspension ahead of P2 to try and improve his feeling. But Sam believes there is still work to do after finishing 17^th in that session and 19^th overall.

“It was difficult to keep the speed in the middle of the corner”

“It was a difficult day today. I didn’t feel good on the bike and felt very slow. I need to analyse everything tonight to see where I can improve. There are a few things I know I can do better. It was complicated as I didn’t feel comfortable and didn’t understand the front tyre well, so it was difficult to keep the speed in the middle of the corner, as I would like. I was quite slow on entry, and when that happens, you ruin the corner. We’ll look at all the data tonight and try and improve for tomorrow. The team are working hard and I’m confident we can jump up the order ahead of qualifying.”

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 10th – 1’36.585

• Five days on from scoring his 3^rd victory of the year, Tony produced a late burst in P1 to rise to 5^th at the end of the session.
• The Italian’s crew made some changes to improve Tony’s braking stability and turning capabilities when mid-corner in P2. It was a positive afternoon, when Tony finished 10^th overall, 0.6s off the day’s fastest time.

“We know the potential is there”

“It was a normal day today. We didn’t see anything too crazy out on track. We know the potential is there, but we just miss some feeling to manage the speed in the best way. At the moment, I cannot really express myself on the exit of the corners because I don’t have a great feeling on corner entry. But we are working on that. I believe in my crew and I know they’ll be able to give me a better feeling so I can smash some lap times tomorrow.”