Filip Salac was 9^th on Saturday at the French GP for his best qualifying of the year but a bizarre crash after the session injured his right wrist, while Tony Arbolino took a hard-earned 10^th.

• For the second day in succession, conditions were perfect at the world famous Le Mans circuit with Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Tony Arbolino and Filip Salac navigating slippery conditions in high track temperatures of 38 degrees.
• The action at the legendary Bugatti Circuit starts on Sunday with the 22-lap race getting underway at 12:15 local time.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 10th – 1’35.775

• Tony continued his recent upturn in form in Saturday morning’s highly competitive P2 session when he placed 10^th with a time that was just 0.4s off the fastest.
• In a dramatic Q2 session, Tony was firstly frustrated when being held up by another rider cruising on the racing line. He then suffered issues when restarting his bike in the pits, which cost him crucial time. In the end, he had time for just two more laps and his last effort was good enough for 10^th.

“The potential was a bit better than 10^th”

“Such a shame in qualifying. First of all, we lost a lot of time in the garage with some problems. There’s not much to say after that. I had the chance to make the last sector two times really well because the conditions had changed a lot from the morning. The potential was a bit better than 10^th but I wasn’t fast enough to fight for the pole position. I’ll say that I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’ll make a small change of the race that we already know. I’m sure that will help us fight for a good result tomorrow and I’m ready to give my all as always!”

/// FILIP SALAC, 9^th – 1’35.653

• Filip started the day well by placing 7^th in a record breaking P2, before setting the 9^th fastest time in Q2, just 0.6s off pole position – his best qualifying performance of the year to date.
• But Filip endured great misfortunate after the session, as he waws collected by another rider from behind on the slow down lap exiting Turn 4. The impact hurt his right wrist which currently has some swelling. He will undergo a medical check tomorrow morning to determine if he can race.

“I improved lap by lap and the feeling with the bike was good”

“It was a good day today. In the morning we were able to do a quick lap time when I was riding alone. I improved lap by lap and the feeling with the bike was good. In the qualifying the weather was hotter and it was more slippery out there. In the end we managed to be in the top 9. Unfortunately, after the chequered flag we had an incident with other riders who weren’t looking ahead and just hit me from behind. I have pain in my right wrist and it looks like I have a small fracture. I hope it will be OK for tomorrow and I’ll do my best to do a good race.”