Tony Arbolino qualified 12^th for the Portuguese Grand Prix but feels he has the potential to score a good result on Sunday.

• After overnight rain deposited dirt and sand on the track ahead of Friday’s running, the 4.592km Algarve International Circuit was in much better condition on Saturday, with Elf Marc VDS Racing Team’s Tony Arbolino enjoying two dry sessions.
• The pace was hot throughout Practice 2 (Saturday morning’s session) and Q2, with the absolute Moto2 lap record being broken in both sessions.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 12^th – 1’42.188

• Having worked on a few specific areas of setting with his team overnight, Tony was able to climb the order with a late lap in Practice 2, with his lap time of 1’41.831 nearly 0.2s under the previous lap record and enough for 2^nd.
• Tony’s fastest lap in Q2, which put him in a provisional 2^nd place, came on his first flying lap of the session. But the 23-year old pitted to change his both tyres, and was unable to improve after, meaning he slipped to 12^th.

“I did everything I could and pushed as hard as possible”

“I was feeling great after the first run in qualifying. But I still had the feeling that I wasn’t getting the best out of the bike, and using it 100% in the right way. So, we stopped and put a different front tyre in, but this made everything a bit worse for the lap time. It’s a bit disappointing but it is what it is. I did everything I could and pushed as hard as possible so I’ll keep this sensation and focus on the positives. Tomorrow will be a really long race. We’ve set the bike up so I can have good rhythm until the very end so let’s see how we’ll go. I’m confident that with a good start we can fight for a good finish. That’s the aim for tomorrow!”