Tony Arbolino carried his strong form to South America as he topped Friday’s Moto2 timesheets at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, while Sam Lowes was also quickly up to speed in 7^th.

• Forecasts during the week indicated there would be rain throughout Friday. In the end Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Sam Lowes and Tony Arbolino had a fully dry track for the second half of P1, as well as all of P2.
• Despite grip levels being low around the 4.81km Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, times in the afternoon P2 were quick, with Arbolino’s fastest time just 0.6s off the outright Moto2 circuit record.

/// SAM LOWES,  7^th – 1’43.405

• Sam’s preparations for the second round of 2023 was far from ideal. Flight delays meant it took the Briton 47 hours to get to Argentina, which wasn’t helped by him suffering from the flu.
• Despite not feeling at his best, Sam had a solid start to the weekend, trying different settings, and posting consistent times. The Briton ended Friday less than 0.3s off the top.

“A solid first day, not too far off”

“I’m really happy with today. The times are quite close. I don’t feel amazing on the bike because I’ve had a crazy week and had a really long trip out here with lots of delays. I feel pretty sick as well. I have what feels like the flu so I’ll take that today after the week I’ve had. A solid first day, not too far off and we’ve been working through a few things. The team did a great job. I tried a few different settings with the bike so thanks to them for finding a good direction for tomorrow. I’ll have a good sleep tonight and hopefully feel a bit better in the morning so we can make another step forward.”

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 1^st – 1’43.172

• Fresh an excellent 3^rd place in Portugal five days ago, Tony enjoyed an excellent start in Argentina. He was fastest rider in the wet conditions in the first half of P1, before setting the quickest time in the fully dry P2.
• Tony and his team spent the day working on braking stability and several set-up changes helped him improve throttle connection and rear traction around the low-grip Argentinean track.

“I felt comfortable and was able to show pretty good pace”

“It was a good day at the office! We worked well and I’m really happy with how things went. We need to keep going but I felt comfortable and was able to show pretty good pace. I feel confident about our chances tomorrow and for the race on Sunday. I had great first impressions here in Argentina. We made some changes to the front part of the bike and they worked well. We’re looking forward to having a good Saturday and qualifying well tomorrow.”