Tony Arbolino started the San Marino Grand Prix in excellent fashion by ending Friday’s Practice in 4^th place, while team-mate Filip Salac also had a good day by finishing 10^th.

• Track conditions at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on Friday couldn’t have been a bigger contrast to last weekend’s Aragon GP. Temperatures (27 degrees during the afternoon P1) and grip were both high around the 4.23km track.
• The action at the seaside Italian venue on the Italian Riviera starts on Saturday at 9:25 for Practice 2 before qualifying gets underway at 13.45 local time.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 4^th – 1’35.845

• Fresh from his maiden podium finish of 2024, Tony started his home GP in fine fashion, topping FP with a time of 1’35.775, which was enough to lead the session by 0.183s.
• The Italian then used the afternoon to work on race pace and braking stability. The results were impressive: 9 of Tony’s 12-lap run early in P1 were in the 1’36s, which was a competitive rhythm. A late time promoted the 24-year old to 4^th, just 0.2s from pace setter Aron Canet.

“I feel fast and like the bike is there”

“It was a great first day here in Misano. We’ve proven that the base setting we had in Aragon is working so well. I feel so good with the rhythm and also quite good in the time attack. I’m even more comfortable on used tyres. I feel fast and like the bike is there. We’re competitive and I want to prove that I’m one of the fastest here again. Let’s aim for a clean, fast qualifying lap tomorrow so we can put ourselves in a good place to fight on Sunday!”

/// FILIP SALAC, 10^th – 1’36.128

• Following on from a promising 11^th place in Aragon, Filip started the day steadily, finishing FP in 13^th with a time that was 0.8s off his team-mate.
• The Czech rider used the afternoon session to work on bike balance, and he tried Pirelli’s new rear tyre, brought especially to Misano. The results were good, and a late run promoted Filip to 10^th.

“We go for a good qualifying performance tomorrow”

“The first day in Misano was good. I like this track a lot and the feeling today wasn’t bad. I did quite a few good lap times. I also tried the new tyre, which Pirelli has brought here. It was working quite well so overall I’m happy with how today went. I’m also pleased with the feelings so we need to continue like this. We need to keep working and the plan is to make a few tweaks to our set-up tonight because for sure everyone will go even faster tomorrow morning. I’m enjoying myself here in Italy and I can’t wait to get back on track and ride again as we go for a good qualifying performance tomorrow!”