Tony Arbolino earned an early psychological advantage over title rival Pedro Acosta as he topped the timesheets on the opening day of action for the inaugural Indian Moto2 at the Buddh International Circuit.

The Italian has been left trailing in his rival’s wake since ceding the lead to Acosta since the end of the summer break, Arbolino facing down a deficit of 33 points with eight rounds remaining.

However, after it looked as though form man Acosta would end Friday in front in the Indian heat, Arbolino sneaked ahead with his final lap of the day thanks to a 1m 52.105secs lap.

Giving him a slender 0.065s advantage over the Spaniard, though it is likely times will continue to fall in P3 on Saturday morning, it will still represent a much needed confidence boost for the Marc VDS Racing rider.

A close run thing between the leading three riders, Ai Ogura was third quickest on the IDEMITSU Honda Asia bike, followed by P1 pace setter Somkiat Chantra, while Jake Dixon was also off to a solid start with a run to fifth best on the GasGas Aspar.

Manuel Gonzalez and Filip Salac hold down sixth and seventh spots on the timesheets provisionally, with Aron Canet, Marcos Ramirez - continuing to impress since returning to Moto2 action with American Racing - and Celestino Vietti rounding out the top ten.

Elsewhere, Sam Lowes could only manage the 18th best lap time as one of the riders to arrive to the circuit late owing to visa issues, while Rory Skinner endured a day to forget in 29th.