Tony Arbolino qualified second and Sam Lowes third in a brilliant qualifying session for the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team at the Spanish Grand Prix.

• In front of a near full attendance at the Circuit of Jerez Angel Nieto, Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders experienced the hottest conditions of the weekend in Q2, which took place in soaring track temperatures of 47 degrees.
• As is usually the case, Moto2 qualifying was ridiculously close with just 0.032s covering the three fastest riders!

/// SAM LOWES, 3rd – 1’41.321

• Around one of his favourite tracks, Sam showed excellent rhythm with Dunlop’s harder rear tyre option in FP3, setting the second fastest time thanks to a 1’41.568 on the seventh lap of a strong eleven-lap run.
• A change to the rear of his bike ahead of qualifying meant Sam was just as competitive on the softer rear tyre. The Briton felt he could go faster than the 1’41.321, set on his second flying lap, but was frustrated by traffic at the end of Q2. Still, this was the 31-year old’s third front row start of 2022.

“I’m expecting to fight for the podium and the victory”

“Qualifying was good. I didn’t do the perfect lap time but I feel competitive this weekend. I’ve been stronger than before and with both rear tyres I’ve been fast. We just need to have a good sleep tonight and come out fighting tomorrow. I think the first laps will be important. It’s also true that four or five guys will have the pace, but after the early laps, it will be a different race. I’m expecting to fight for the podium and the victory. I’ve been fast in every session and have good pace, so this is important.”

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 2nd – 1’41.299

• After finishing eleventh in FP3, Tony and his team made a crucial small change to set-up to give him added feel in the corners where he was struggling.
• The 21-year old was immediately faster in Q2, and in a tight session he set his quickest time on his second flying lap, just 0.010s off Ai Ogura’s pole time. This is the fifth time in six races this year Tony has qualified in the top four places!

“The first laps will be a bit difficult but I need to be more aggressive”

“I’m incredibly happy about that and a bit surprised! I didn’t expect this first row in qualifying. We did a small change for qualifying and this helped me in some of the toughest corners, where I was struggling. The team were really focussed on trying to find the small thing to improve our speed. I’m happy about that. Sometimes if you make a change you can feel better, but you can also feel worse. I want to thank all the crew. I really appreciate their work. We’ll see tomorrow how our pace is. We will try and fix something in the warm-up and be ready for the race. The plan is to start fast and try to get the maximum from the bike. The first laps will be a bit difficult but I need to be more aggressive then because in Portugal we were missing there a bit. Let’s see tomorrow!”