Submitted by Zara Daniela on
The wind in Losail was no match for the enthusiasm of the intermediate class and one man who was keen to get back to familiar pastures was Tom Luthi, the MotoGP renegade leading the way for the Dynavolt squad for much of the session. However, the pastures were not all that familiar since the new season means Triumph making their loud entry in Moto2, marking a fresh start for the entire field. Teammate Marcel Schrotter took over top honours in the final few minutes of the session and led by two tenths of a second by the checkered flag.
Xavi Vierge seemed to take to his new team and new bike very well, straight into the top two and four tenths faster than his friend / teammate Alex Marquez, who had a steady start just outside the top ten. Bo Bendsneyder promised to enjoy the new season much more than the old one and started off with third position in FP1, narrowly edging ahead of Luthi, who got pushed back to fourth after beign dethroned from his early lead.
Andrea Locatelli also enjoyed some time in the limelight and finished fifth, with Augusto Fernandez and Jorge Navarro also within half a second of the leader. The familiar Italian trio of Luca Marini, Enea Bastianini and Lorenzo Baldassarri completed the top ten, while 18 riders managed to finish within a second of Schrotter. Amongst them was testing headliner Sam Lowes, whose 16th position was not all that representative since a mechanical niggle cut his session short, and Moto3 champion Jorge Martin, the Spaniard seven tenths off the lead in 14th position.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Kalex | 1'59.591 | ||
| 2 | 97 | Xavi VIERGE | Kalex | 1'59.784 | 0.193 | 0.193 |
| 3 | 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NTS | 1'59.920 | 0.329 | 0.136 |
| 4 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Kalex | 1'59.933 | 0.342 | 0.013 |
| 5 | 5 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Kalex | 1'59.961 | 0.370 | 0.028 |
| 6 | 40 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | Kalex | 1'59.979 | 0.388 | 0.018 |
| 7 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | Speed Up | 2'00.029 | 0.438 | 0.050 |
| 8 | 10 | Luca MARINI | Kalex | 2'00.109 | 0.518 | 0.080 |
| 9 | 33 | Enea BASTIANINI | Kalex | 2'00.166 | 0.575 | 0.057 |
| 10 | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Kalex | 2'00.202 | 0.611 | 0.036 |
| 11 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | Kalex | 2'00.228 | 0.637 | 0.026 |
| 12 | 41 | Brad BINDER | KTM | 2'00.234 | 0.643 | 0.006 |
| 13 | 45 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | Kalex | 2'00.254 | 0.663 | 0.020 |
| 14 | 88 | Jorge MARTIN | KTM | 2'00.266 | 0.675 | 0.012 |
| 15 | 87 | Remy GARDNER | Kalex | 2'00.277 | 0.686 | 0.011 |
| 16 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Kalex | 2'00.416 | 0.825 | 0.139 |
| 17 | 24 | Simone CORSI | Kalex | 2'00.496 | 0.905 | 0.080 |
| 18 | 11 | Nicolo BULEGA | Kalex | 2'00.514 | 0.923 | 0.018 |
| 19 | 2 | Jesko RAFFIN | NTS | 2'00.665 | 1.074 | 0.151 |
| 20 | 89 | Khairul Idham PAWI | Kalex | 2'00.935 | 1.344 | 0.270 |
| 21 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | MV | 2'00.962 | 1.371 | 0.027 |
| 22 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 2'01.022 | 1.431 | 0.060 |
| 23 | 21 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Speed Up | 2'01.040 | 1.449 | 0.018 |
| 24 | 35 | Somkiat CHANTRA | Kalex | 2'01.353 | 1.762 | 0.313 |
| 25 | 3 | Lukas TULOVIC | KTM | 2'01.523 | 1.932 | 0.170 |
| 26 | 72 | Marco BEZZECCHI | KTM | 2'01.569 | 1.978 | 0.046 |
| 27 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | KTM | 2'01.606 | 2.015 | 0.037 |
| 28 | 16 | Joe ROBERTS | KTM | 2'01.691 | 2.100 | 0.085 |
| 29 | 62 | Stefano MANZI | MV | 2'02.045 | 2.454 | 0.354 |
| 30 | 96 | Jake DIXON | KTM | 2'02.326 | 2.735 | 0.281 |
| 31 | 18 | Xavi CARDELUS | KTM | 2'02.816 | 3.225 | 0.490 |
| 32 | 20 | Dimas EKKY PRATAMA | Kalex | 2'03.050 | 3.459 | 0.234 |
