FIGHTING THIRD PLACE FOR ARBOLINO ON HOME SOIL

Elf Marc VDS Racing Team’s Tony Arbolino scored a 2nd successive Moto2 podium finish as he placed 3rd at the Misano World Circuit on Sunday, with team-mate Filip Salac completing a fine comeback for a season’s best result of 7th.

The heavy rain that was forecasted to arrive on Sunday afternoon didn’t affect the 22-lap Moto2 race which got underway at 12.15 local time in dry conditions and ambient temperatures of 31 degrees.

The grandstands were packed at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on Sunday to watch the 13th Moto2 race of 2024, with 89,678 fans in attendance.

Tony woke up on Sunday morning and wasn’t feeling at his best. Starting from pole position for the first time in his Moto2 career, Tony had a fantastic start and led the 1st lap of 22 with Aron Canet and Ai Ogura in close pursuit.

Feeling as though he was losing energy, Tony slipped to 3rd on lap ten and dropped 1s behind the leader. But he soon regrouped and set his personal best time on lap 16 as he came back into victory contention. Yet when two laps from home, he settled for 3rd.

Tony’s second podium of 2024, and second in a row, means he remains 10th in the World Championship with 97 points.

Getting underway from 11th, his 2nd best qualifying performance of the year, Filip held his position on the opening lap.

After building into the race, Filip started showing his best pace around midrace as he posted his personal best times on lap 13 and 14. He gained a further 4 places in the race’s 2nd half to come home in 7th.

Filip’s best result of the season seems him climb 3 places in the World Championship standings to sit 17th.

TONY ARBOLINO, 3rd

“I don’t feel the best today so I’m pretty happy with the result. I wasn’t able to sleep last night. I was waking up every hour as I was feeling a bit sick. But it is what it is. I could lead early on but I saw on the dashboard I wasn’t pulling a gap. So, I was trying to manage the gap, as I knew there would be a drop with the tyre at the end of the race. When I dropped to third, I waited and was almost ready to attack again. But when I saw (Celestino) Vietti had crashed behind, I thought it was important to bring home this third place. It’s a really fantastic podium considering I feel so bad. Also, I wasn’t feeling 100% confident with the bike so we need to keep going like this and trying to improve the feeling for the next race here in two weeks.”

FILIP SALAC, 7th

“An amazing race! I’m so happy about it because the first eight laps were quite difficult for me. I was behind (Marcos) Ramirez and with the full fuel tank it was difficult to overtake. But when I passed him, I could do my rhythm. The pace was amazing and I was enjoying every lap and improving every lap. I believe we’ve done a big step and we understand the bike more now than during the past races. It looks like we found something, and not only me – also Tony. I’m so happy for him and the team, and congratulations to them. I hope we’ll be at the top soon. A good thing is we now have the base setting for the next race here. Thanks to the team, as their work has been awesome this weekend and they prepared an amazing bike for me today.”