The Paddock team’s rider had finished in the top five in the Moto2 standings for the past two years, then led every single practice session at Losail. Luthi carried that form into qualifying, where a very early 2m00.187s lap proved sufficient to wrap up his second pole in the series.
Last year’s runner-up Marc Marquez came closest to deposing Luthi, lapping just 0.072 seconds shy of pole on the Monlau Suter as he secured second on the grid for his first race since the Sepang practice crash that left him with a potential career-threatening eye injury. Andrea Iannone – third in Moto2 in both 2010 and ’11 – was third quickest for Speed Master, ahead of Pol Espargaro (Pons), Mike di Meglio (Speed Master) and Max Neukirchner (Kiefer). Several regular frontrunners will be disappointed with their starts to the season – including British duo Bradley Smith and Scott Redding in 12th and 13th. Aspar’s all-star duo of 2010 Moto2 champion and MotoGP race-winner Toni Elias and 2011 125cc champion Nico Terol ended up only 17th and 26th. Terol’s 125cc title rival Johann Zarco will start 19th for his Moto2 debut with JIR after his session ended in a Turn 1 collision with one of the Pons riders.
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