After a difficult morning, Tony Arbolino progressed through Q1 to qualify fourth for the final Moto2 race of the year at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, while Senna Agius was a promising 19^th.

• Perfect conditions greeted the riders for the final Moto2 qualifying session of 2022, which played out under blue skies and warm ambient temperatures of 25 degrees.
• Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Tony Arbolino and Senna Agius rode in front of one of the biggest Saturday attendances of the year, with the famous grandstands at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit almost full.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 4^th – 1’34.583

• It was a tough start to the day for Tony, who lacked feeling in FP3. The 22-year old didn’t feel entirely comfortable, and finished 18^th, which necessitated a trip to Q1.
• Tony’s highly-experienced crew then got to work, making crucial changes which gave him better front-end feel. After going through Q1 with the second fastest time, the Italian got within 0.269s of pole position in Q2 to qualify fourth.

“We’ll be aggressive from the start”

“Today was so tricky but this helped us understand for the future that even in the bad moments we have to keep working and believing. The team and the crew made difference today. I’m really happy about the result, especially when you consider where we came from. Let’s keep going like this and remain focussed. I’m not sure how the pace will be in the race. If we did a fast lap then we should be able to translate that into a good race. I want to thank the crew. They really improved the feeling with the front end in such a short time. Sometimes it takes a few races to achieve this. That was the most important thing for the future. So let’s have a nice race tomorrow. We’ll be aggressive from the start and I’ll push to be with the first three guys. Then let’s go and see how our pace is. But I’m quite confident.”

/// SENNA AGIUS, 19^th – 1’35.076

• In his fourth appearance for the team this year, Senna continued his strong showing from Friday and just missed out on a place in the top 14 in FP3, finishing 15^th.
• The Australian was on course to progress to Q1 but some late improvements by other riders shuffled him back to fifth, meaning he’ll start from 19^th – his best qualifying in four World Championship appearances.

“I just missed finding the limit of the bike in every corner”

“I improved my personal best today but I couldn’t extract the maximum from the package. I just missed finding the limit of the bike in every corner to do one really fast lap time. I have good consistency but I’m just lacking that one perfect lap. Overall, we have to be happy. It’s my best qualifying in the World Championship. But Q2 was definitely on the cards. I really thought I could have got it today. I’m a little disappointed we missed it, but we’ve worked well this weekend and we have good pace. I think if I have a clear head tomorrow, I can do a good result. It’s going to be a tyre battle at the end. Everyone is going to have a big drop. Whoever can make as few mistakes as possible, and stay consistent from the beginning and save something, they’ll have more at the end. It’s going to be a long race but good pace at the end will be key.”