Moto 3
Published on August 14, 2020 • 09:40 PM by Marc Sériau

Moto3 Red Bull Ring 1 FP1: Tony Arbolino justifies his record

All against Albert Arenas!

This could be the slogan launched against the team's driver Aspar Gaviota after the first four races of the championship, as it seems to be taken in hand by the Spaniard who has already scored two victories and a second place, already totaling 70 points.

The opposition is currently led by Ai Ogura (Honda, Honda Team Asia), which is 18 points behind despite its recent podium in Brno, and John McPhee (Honda, Petronas Sprinta Racing) one unit behind.

Then comes Tatsuki suzuki (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse), winner in Andalusia but who shares this year's provisional crash record (5) with a few other riders from the different categories. The Japanese driver who lives in Riccione has 44 points.

We then find in tight formation Raúl Fernández (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo) with 36 points, Dennis Foggia (Honda, Leopard Racing) with 32 points, Tony Arbolino (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team) with 31 points, then Celestine Vietti (KTM, Sky Racing Team VR46) and gabriel rodrigo (Honda, Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) with 30 units, and even Jeremy Alcoba (Honda, Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) 2 points behind.

The relative disappointments of this start to the championship are called Jaume Masia (Honda, Leopard Racing), only 12th with 19 points, and Roman Fenati (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), 15th with 14 points.

But the latter was at the forefront during the last Austrian Grand Prix on the Red Bull Ring, and will perhaps take advantage of the confidence brought by his victory on the Styrian track last year to pleasantly surprise us…

While waiting to find out, we see that the weather conditions have changed drastically for the first time this season, with a threatening sky and only 16° in the air and 22° on the ground, but a track which has dried out since the rain which welcomed the competitors to Austria.

With the weather forecast being quite pessimistic for this weekend, it is likely that the drivers will take advantage of this dry session to try to quickly secure a pre-qualification in Q2, by setting a time in the first 14...

Here are the past benchmarks as the 31 drivers prepare for this first 40-minute practice session:

Moto3™ Austria 1

 2019

2020
FP1

1'36.967 Jakub Kornfeil

 1'36.550 Tony Arbolino
FP2

1'36.585 Celestino Vietti
FP3

1'35.778 Tony Arbolino
Q1

1'37.028 Jaume Masia
Q2

1'36.690 John McPhee
warm up

1'42.542 Jaume Masia
Course Fenati, Arbolino, McPhee (see here)
All time lap record

1'35.778 Tony Arbolino (2019)

It is Ayumu Sasaki (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3) who sets off first on the Austrian track at the opening of the track.

Quickly, Jaume Masiá records the first provisional reference in 1'38.839 then 1'38.361 but Raul Fernandez (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo) intends to defend the honor of Mattighofen on home soil and achieves 1'38.3030 during his fourth flying lap.

gabriel rodrigo (Honda, Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) gets off to a bad start to its weekend…

Jason dupasquier (KTM, PrüstlGP) and Carlos Tatay (KTM, Reale Avintia Arizona 77) hang on at turn #3.

After a quarter of an hour, Albert Arenas placed at the top of the ranking in 1'37.970.

Midway through the session, Albert Arenas precede Tony Arbolino, Jaume Masiá and Dennis Foggia but these four drivers are within a tenth of a second!

When we resume, all this is swept away by Andrea Migno (KTM, Sky Racing Team VR46) who achieved 1'37.884 then 1'37.617.

Riccardo rossi (KTM, BOE Skull Rider Facile.Energy) falls without gravity at turn #6.

At the start of the final rush, three drivers begin to increase the pace: Andrea Migno, Dennis Foggia and Celestino Vietti, the first achieving 1'37.131.

The response to this first attack is given by Jaume Masia in 1'37.050 then Tony Arbolino, the first to go below the 1'37 mark in 1'36.983 then 1'36.550.

After his track record achieved last year, the Snipers team driver confirms that he is at ease on this Austrian track…

FP1 classification of the Austrian Moto3 Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com