Tony Arbolino will start Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix from 15^th on the grid after a tricky qualifying session while Senna Agius was a highly promising 21^st, and just missed a spot in Q2 by 0.3 seconds.

• Despite concerning forecasts, the weather remained dry throughout qualifying day at the spectacular Red Bull Ring with the Q1 and Q2 sessions taking place under cloudy skies and ambient temperatures of 21 degrees.
• With the addition of the new left-right chicane between turns one and three on the track for this year’s Austrian Grand Prix, the Moto2 field was quickly up to speed around the new layout. Tony Arbolino’s qualifying effort today was just over 5s off his best from 2021.

/// TONY ARBOLINO, 15^th:  1’34.602

• Having improved front feeling, turning and braking performance during Friday’s practice sessions, Arbolino was just 0.4s off the fastest time in FP3, albeit in 14^th place.
• The 22-year old found the going tough in qualifying however, and was frustrated to place 15^th on Saturday afternoon after choosing to switch both front and rear tyre mid-session.

“We’ll try our best to make a nice comeback tomorrow”

“It’s a pity how the qualifying ended. We changed two tyres in qualifying and it looks like it would have been better if I just used one set to improve my feeling with the first pair. The feeling was not so great on the front of the bike and with the front tyre. I was not able to really push on the brakes. But we understand what happened. We’ll analyse where I was losing and why I was losing time like this. We’ll try our best to make a great comeback tomorrow. We’ll work this evening, make a reset and start tomorrow from where we are. I believe in my crew and they believe in me so we’ll keep going, and keep believing that we can do a good race. Hopefully we can make another step forward to get back on top soon.”

/// SENNA AGIUS, 21^st : 1’34.938

• The 17-year old produced another mature performance in just his second day in a world championship event by placing a highly encouraging 25^th in FP3, with his fastest time 1.108s off first place.
• His progression continued in Q1, his first ever 15-minute qualifying shootout. The Australian was a splendid seventh, with his best time just 0.3s off fourth place, which would have guaranteed a spot in Q2. That put his 21^st on the full grid.

“I have a rhythm to do a respectable race”

“Today was full on! I made good progress from yesterday to today. In FP3 we worked really well. Then I found a bit more speed in Q1. But it was the first time doing a 15-minute qualifying session. I was trying my best but I missed a spot in Q2 by three tenths. Every moment I’m learning a lot and we’ll try to do the best job possible for the race tomorrow. My plan is to keep as calm as I can and look for an opportunity to pass people on the first lap. I have a rhythm to do a respectable race. It’ll be good for us once the race is settled in and we can do our rhythm. But for sure the first laps are going to be crazy!”