Tony Arbolino’s late effort was good enough to book a spot on the 3^rd row of the grid for Sunday’s Indonesian GP, while team-mate Filip Salac will start 23^rd.

• Saturday’s conditions at the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit didn’t relent with track temperatures among the hottest of the year (61 degrees) when Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Tony Arbolino and Filip Salac took to the track for qualifying.
• The 15th Moto2 race of 2024 on starts on Sunday at 13:15 local time and will be held over 22 laps.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 7^th – 1’33.696

• Having ended Friday 3^rd overall, Tony continued to feel strong around the fast 4.3km venue in the morning P2 session, as he set the 2^nd fastest time, just 0.19s back of pace setter Aron Canet.
• Yet the Italian didn’t feel quite as comfortable on the bike in the extreme temperatures of the afternoon. After a slow start to Q2, a late lap promoted him to 7^th, 0.26 back of the pole time.

“I’m confident we can fight for a good result”

“I’d say it was a positive day because I felt good in the morning. But then in qualifying, which was the moment to perform, wasn’t our best session as I didn’t feel quite as comfortable when the temperatures rose. Anyway, I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s race. I feel like we have good rhythm. We need to polish one or two details with the bike because it wasn’t the best this afternoon. But we’ll work on a few details this evening and I’m confident we can fight for a good result tomorrow and keep this good run that we’re on going!”

/// FILIP SALAC, 23^rd – 1’34.450

• A few changes to the setting of the bike had Filip feeling more confident in the morning P2 session. But a crash at Turn 2 disrupted his rhythm and meant he couldn’t improve his lap time late on. He ended combined practice in 18^th.
• That meant Filip found himself in Q1, when he attempted to recover his good feeling with the bike. Yet a huge moment coming through Turn 6 spoiled his rhythm and left him 9^th in Q1, and 23^rd overall.

“I couldn’t improve after the crash”

“It was a hard day today. I had a crash at the beginning of the morning session, which led to me losing a bit of confidence in the second outing. In the end, it’s disappointing because we found something with a few changes to the bike. I started the day very well, but then I couldn’t improve after the crash. In Q1 we thought it would be better to go with one set of tyres to get the feeling back. But I wasn’t able to get through to Q2. It is what it is. But I’ll be sure to give everything tomorrow to try and get a decent result!”