Moto2 Qatar: Untouchable Marquez dominates for pole

Alex Marquez set the fastest time of the weekend in Moto2 around the Losail track as he took pole position with ease ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.

Marquez dominated the top spot but continued to drop his lap times, finishing with a best of 2m 00.299s, as he managed the difficult breezy, dusty and hot conditions better than his rivals.

The EG 0,0 Marc VDS rider claiming the track improved as the bikes turned more laps to clean it on the way to his fourth time at the front of the grid in Moto2.

Pons HP40 rider Lorenzo Baldassarri made the most of those improving conditions to start his assault on Marquez’s time - he slid into second, with his late hot lap just 0.308s behind the lead time.

Francesco Bagnaia turned the Sky Racing VR46 teams fortunes around for the day, after floundering in Moto3, he knuckled down to claim a place on the all Kalex front row.

Consistency brought Miguel Oliveira fourth, but the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider looked to have great race pace.

He is joined on the second row by top rookie performer Romano Fenati as he secured a late fifth for Marinelli Snipers Team.

Danny Kent marked his return with sixth for Speed Up, a very convincing performance after his extended break.

Jorge Navarro took seventh for Gresini, while veteran Mattia Pasini (Italtrans) was right on his tail for eighth.

Marcel Schrotter steered his Dynavolt Intact GP bike to ninth, a great performance on the Suter.

Sam Lowes took an early tumble but was undeterred, dropping places while waiting for a fix the Swiss Innovative Investors man did enough to come back and claim a top ten start.

Brad Binder fared less well than team-mate Oliveira and will have some work to do from 13th on the grid.

Moto3 Champion Joan Mir struggled on his debut in Moto2 and was off the pace down in 23rd for EG 0,0 Marc VDS.