STRONG SIXTH IN SPIELBERG FOR ARBOLINO

Tony Arbolino emerged from a difficult weekend with ten crucial points for sixth place which keep him very much in the title fight, while Sam Lowes suffered an unfortunate early crash.

The stunning Red Bull Ring hosted the tenth round of 2023 in southern Austria with a bumper crowd of 93,519 in attendance on race day.

Despite the dry, sunny conditions, the high track temperatures of 29 degrees made life tricky for the Moto2 field, as front tyre temperatures quickly rose.

After Sunday’s result, Elf Marc VDS Racing Team continue to lead the Moto2 Team’s Championship with 231 points, 12 ahead of 2nd.

Starting from 14th, Sam enjoyed a steady start and gained some positions off the line. But the 32-year old had to take action to avoid a crash on the first lap and lost several places.

As he started to find his rhythm, Sam was engaged in a fight with Darryn Binder for 14th but the pair came together at the Turn 2 chicane on the 3rd lap, unfortunately ending the Briton’s race.

Sam’s second non-score of the year means he remains on 67 points in 10th in the World Championship.

Fighting through from 7th on the grid, Tony got his customary brilliant start, and gained three places with a brilliant move around the outside at Turn 1 to sit 4th.

From there, the 23-year old couldn’t quite hold on to the fight for the podium and was engaged in an exciting scrap for 6th with Filip Salac. A strong move at Turn 9 on the 15th lap tipped the fight in the Italian’s favour.

Thanks to Tony’s 8th top 6 finish of the year, he remains 2nd in the World Championship with 164 points, 12 behind leader Pedro Acosta.

SAM LOWES, DNF

“Of course, it’s been a disappointing weekend in general. I actually made a decent start which I can be happy about. But in the first lap another rider crashed and I was unable to avoid that. Hopefully he’s OK because it was quite a nasty crash. It’s difficult to take much more than this from the weekend. We’re just going to keep working and now we go to some better tracks for me, like Barcelona. I was unfortunate to be caught up in the incident, but we also need to qualify better so we can get a better track position in the first laps.”

TONY ARBOLINO, 6th

“Honestly, I didn’t feel so bad. My feeling wasn’t so different compared to Friday and yesterday. I was just trying to make my rhythm but it was difficult. We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy race, and things weren’t coming easily to me on the bike. But it’s like this. I’m not doubting myself at all. I was giving my maximum throughout and that’s the most important thing. I’m already looking forward to Barcelona, which is like my second home race because I live there now. I’ll be so prepared for it so I can try to be back on the podium.”