An intense run of five races in six weeks reaches its conclusion this weekend when Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Sam Lowes and Tony Arbolino race in some of the season’s toughest conditions at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

• The Sepang International Circuit hosts the penultimate round of the 2022 Moto2 World Championship this weekend, with searing heat and humidity providing a tough mental and physical test for Lowes and Arbolino.
• Preparations for the 18-lap race will get underway on Friday morning with FP1 starting at 955am local time.

/// SAM LOWES

• A fast practice crash couldn’t stop the determined Briton from completing a positive ride to 12^th place in the Australian Grand Prix last weekend at Phillip Island.
• Lowes is due to make his seventh appearance in Malaysia and he’s targeting a weekend of constant progress while rebuilding strength and movement in his recovering left shoulder injured in early August.

“Sepang is a track I enjoy and I’ll be giving me all”

“Sepang is always a difficult race because the conditions can be extreme. The heat always makes it very hard but it is a track that I do enjoy riding at. The first half is fast and flowing and then in the second part there are more hard braking points. I was happy to get a race finish under my belt in Australia and a few points on the board. It was important for me and my crew to have a solid race and finish a full length race for the first time in quite a while. A twelfth place is not what we are here for but it was a good four points and I’m aiming to build on that now. Hopefully I can feel a bit more normal on the bike but I’ll be giving it my all like always.”

/// TONY ARBOLINO

• Despite last Sunday’s fall, Arbolino’s fourth place on the grid and fight for the podium in Australia makes him supremely confident that he can be firmly in contention to challenge at the front again in Sepang.
• Arbolino’s attacking style is perfectly suited to Sepang’s long and fast 5.5km layout and in his last two visits in Moto3 he scored top 10 finishes and was within five seconds of the win in both.“The only target is to get on the podium”

  “I think we showed an amazing level of performance in Phillip Island and it was a real pity that we didn’t get the final result we deserved. That makes me even more motivated to do well this weekend in Sepang. I really want to finish this period of overseas races with another podium and I think we have a great chance to do it. We are showing a very high level right now and the only target is to get on the podium, so we’ll go for it.”