It wasn’t long before the riders in the pitlane were motivated to join the Italian on slick tyres, with Somkiat Chantra putting in a solid run to nudge Arbolino off the top spot. With seventeen minutes to go, we saw Chantra’s teammate and 2022 Moto2™ title contender Ai Ogura (IDEMISTU Honda Team Asia) take to the circuit for the first time in 2023, after sitting out the first round to injury. The times continued to tumble and Arbolino eventually dropped down 5th spot with hot laps coming in from the likes of Gonzalez, Chantra, Canet, and Filip Salac (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2™).