There were mixed fortunes for Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Filip Salac and Tony Arbolino on Friday at the Circuit of the Americas, as they finished the day 12^th and 22^nd respectively.

• After a two-week break, the Moto2 season roared back into life on Friday in Austin, Texas with perfect conditions greeting riders for the first two sessions – Free Practice and Practice 1 – of Round 3 of 2024.
• Resurfacing at Turn 2, 12 and between Turns 9 and 11, as well as 16 and 19 have taken place at the 5.5km Circuit of the Americas since Moto2’s last visit, meaning lap times were suitably fast on Friday. Pace setter Fermin Aldeguer was almost 4 tenths the previous lap record.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 22^nd – 2’09.711

• Tony started Friday in promising fashion and got accustomed to the changes to the track, as well as to his bike through the session, while placing 13^th in Free Practice.
• The Italian spent the first half of Practice 1 working on improving front stability, where he was struggling most. Tony was then unlucky on his final run of the day, as his best lap was cancelled due to a yellow flag, shown for Aron Canet’s late crash. That lap time of 2’09.470 would have seen him improve five places.

“The position isn’t ideal at the moment but I’m aiming to improve”

“The first day in COTA is done. We’ve worked hard through the day and tried to find the best solution for myself and the bike. We need to adjust a few things though as I’m not entirely happy with how the front of the bike is behaving. Tomorrow is another day and we have another session to improve my feeling so I am more confident entering turns. I’m sure we can do it and we’re going through the weekend with positive vibes and a positive mindset to make sure we can do our best on Sunday. The position isn’t ideal at the moment, but tomorrow I’m aiming to improve our performance and pace and qualify as well as possible!”

/// FILIP SALAC, 12^th – 2’09.171

• Friday was a good test for Filip as it was his first day back on his Elf Marc VDS Racing Team machine since undergoing arm pump surgery in mid-March. Despite taking some time to get up to speed in Free Practice, when he placed 20^th, the Czech rider’s right arm felt OK.
• The 22-year old gradually got up to speed in the afternoon session and was delighted with the setting of his bike, as he posted a best time which was just 0.8s off the fastest of the day. Filip feels there is more to come on Saturday.

“I feel we’re already in a good way.”

“Day one on the bike after the surgery. Everything that happened today was good so I’m pretty happy! In Practice it was a little bit difficult for me to be back on the bike after such a long time away. But the guys have done an amazing job. The bike was working perfectly today. I can’t wait for tomorrow and I’m sure we can do another step for sure. The condition of the track is good but we still need to understand the tyres. There’s still a long way to go to be on top but I feel we’re already in a good way.”