Filip Salac enjoyed his best Friday of the season as he finished 1^st in both Moto2 sessions on the 1^st day of the Japanese Grand Prix while Tony Arbolino was 10^th.

• Conditions were hot, humid and a little wet on Friday at the Mobilty Resort Motegi, 2 hours north of Tokyo. Friday morning’s FP session was held on a dry track with damp patches, while a brief shower interrupted P1, held in the afternoon, for five minutes. Conditions quickly improved soon after.
• The action in Japan starts on Saturday at 9:25 local time for Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Tony Arbolino and Filip Salac in Practice 2 before qualifying gets underway at 13.45 local time.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 10th – 1’50.211

• Tony had an all-action start to the day, setting the provisional fastest time early on in FP before performing a remarkable save at Turn 5. He then suffered a crash at Turn 7 and was shuffled down the order to 13^th.
• The 24-year old was able to lap consistently and quickly across 3 runs in P1. Although his best lap time was only good enough for 10^th, he was just 0.495s off team-mate Filip Salac.

“I was able to set quite a consistent pace”

“It was a day of hard work! We wanted to test a few things today, which we were able to do. I also had a tiny crash this morning which didn’t allow me to fit the soft tyre at the end of the session. The feeling I have is not bad. I was able to set quite a consistent pace in Practice 1, which was important for tomorrow and Sunday. There are a few things we can improve for tomorrow so we’ll work on fixing those this afternoon. I believe we can have another strong weekend here.”

/// FILIP SALAC, 1st – 1’49.716

• Filip was competitive from the opening laps of the day, and was consistently challenging for the top positions. His late effort in FP was enough to take 1^st from home hero Ai Ogura by 0.014s.
• The Czech rider was again in fine form in the afternoon as he broke the outright Moto2 lap record on his 13^th lap of the session, before going one tenth faster the next time around. He topped the session by 0.04s from Aron Canet.

“I had fun out there today”

“It was a good day here in Japan! We started in the morning with a good feeling on the bike. I was able to do the fastest time. I was enjoying myself in the P1 session. We had to be careful because there was a bit of rain and a few wet spots about. I was a bit worried about the conditions and how they would be because if it continued raining, we wouldn’t be able to improve and tomorrow is supposed to be wet. But thankfully, it was just a brief shower and the rain quickly stopped. I had fun out there today. The team is working well and the pace is good. We were able to finish the day with a good result so I’m very happy. Thanks to the team and let’s see how the conditions will be tomorrow. Let’s keep enjoying it!”