Filip Salac was 9th and Tony Arbolino 13^th at the end of play on Friday at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya for the final round of the 2024 Moto2 season.

• Conditions were overcast and cool at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday. Ambient and track temperatures were a mere 13 degrees when Free Practice kicked off at 9.50 local time.
• Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Tony Arbolino and Filip Salac could count on warmer conditions for Practice 1 at 14.05 with track temperatures rising to 20 degrees in the afternoon. Even still, grip levels remained low.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 13^th – 1’43.416

• Tony spent the morning working on tyre comparisons from the allocation available and showed strong speed in FP as he set the 3^rd fastest time.
• In the afternoon Tony’s team made changes to his set-up with the aim of improving rear grip. But the Italian didn’t feel entirely comfortable as he set the 13^th fastest time.

“I wasn’t close to feeling good”

“I’m not overly happy with the first day here in Barcelona. This morning’s session went quite well and I was happy. But we then tried to make some changes to the set-up for the second session but it didn’t go to plan. I wasn’t close to feeling good and didn’t have the feedback from the bike to perform at my maximum level. The bike of this morning was working better so I think we need to go back to that one and work from that base. Let’s see where that can take us but I still feel confident that we can end the season here in a good way.”

/// FILIP SALAC, 9^th – 1’43.157

• Filip started the day by assessing the different tyre compounds on offer, as well as a few suspension adjustments that his team made as he set the 10^th fastest time of FP.
• The Czech rider then made tweaks to the geometry of his bike for the afternoon session in a bid to improve rear grip. Although he is seeking improvements in tyre durability, he showed strong speed on new tyres in the final minutes as he set the 9^th fastest time.

“We need to work on improving the rear grip”

“It’s been a good day. We improved the setting quite a bit in the afternoon. We still have a bit of work to do because the grip out there isn’t amazing. We need to work on improving the rear grip that I have as our drop of the rear tyre was quite fast today. So, we need to work on that side as I feel it will be key to a strong race on Sunday. But overall, it was a good Friday for us and I hope tomorrow we’ll be able to improve ever more.”