READY FOR SPIELBERG'S SHOWDOWN

From Aug. 19-21, the idyllic Styrian mountains where the Red Bull Ring is located will turn into a boiling pot for three action-packed days as the thirteenth of this year's twenty Grand Prix races will be held this weekend in Spielberg.

Meanwhile, Tony Arbolino is looking forward to exploring the circuit's new, unfamiliar chicane and is pumped up to tackle the famous showdown stage.

The popular 4.3-kilometer Red Bull Ring, where MotoGP is back from 2016, has a surprise in store for this year's showdown.

In fact, the Red Bull Ring's second high-speed corner has been modified, and the new configuration includes two 90-degree turns as part of a double-top chicane, created primarily to improve safety but also to provide more overtaking opportunities.

Arbolino will have his first opportunity here to drive on the modified track when FP1 sees its start tomorrow at 10:55 a.m.

Fifth in the world standings, the Italian is aiming for a return to podium contention this weekend, in part to celebrate his 100th world championship appearance in style.

The 22-year-old has impressed in past years at the Red Bull Ring: ranked second in the 2019 Moto3 meeting and second in the 2020 World Lightweight Championship category.

Will the new chicane be promoted?

The Spielberg circuit has a great novelty for this 2022, a chicane placed on the straight leading to Turn 3.

After the terrible accident in 2020 between Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli, it was decided to "curb" the speeds of the motorcycles. FIM, Dorna and FIA, therefore designed a chicane to make the affected corner and the braking at Turn 3 safer.

In fact, the change was made between Turns 1 and 3, with a chicane that will force riders to take two very slow turns (Turn 2 and 2B), completely stopping the bike's inertia to safely negotiate Turn 3.

The new chicane does not change the length of the circuit, which remains 4.3 kilometers, but it increases the number of turns by one (now 11, of which 8 are right-handers) and reduces, on paper, the enormous dangerousness of this area of the circuit, leading to an increase in lap times.

In this weekend the MotoGP riders will try it for the first time, will it be promoted?

🎙️Tony:

"I am looking forward to going back to Austria this weekend and working closely with my crew to see if we can take another important step.

I have been training very hard since Silverstone because I believe we can get back to where we want to be this weekend. The Red Bull Ring will be a slightly different challenge this year with the new layout in the first sector, and I am looking forward to seeing how this will change the track from a driving perspective.

It's a big weekend for me because I plan to make my 100th start in the World Championship. I am very proud of this result and I hope we can have a strong weekend."

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