Qatar Moto2: Schrotter opens Triumph era with pole

Intact GP rider Schrotter overcame Marc VDS man Xavi Vierge by 0.146s to take the top spot, while practice pacesetter Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons) took the remaining front row spot.

Baldassarri's Friday benchmark of 1m58.635s was not threatened until the latter stages of Q2, with the intermediate class adopting the MotoGP-style qualifying format for 2019.

It was Vierge who held the advantage halfway through the 15-minute pole shootout with a 1m58.731s lap, but Schrotter produced a time 0.028s faster some minutes later to take provisional pole before improving to a 1m58.585s in the dying stages.

Baldassarri moved up to third at the end of the session but could not better his Friday time.

Valentino Rossi's half-brother Luca Marini (Sky VR46) set the pace in Q1 and set the fourth-fastest time in Q2, but only after crashing at Turn 2.

Remy Gardner (SAG Team) and testing form man Sam Lowes (Gresini) took the remaining second row slots.

MotoGP refugee Tom Luthi (Intact) was seventh-fastest on his Moto2 return, beating top Ajo KTM man Brad Binder, Alex Marquez (Marc VDS) and Augusto Fernandez (Pons).

Also crashing at Turn 2 in Q2 was Binder's teammate Jorge Martin, who ended up 11th-fastest and best of the rookies.

Of the other riders to make it out of Q1, Tetsuta Nagashima (SAG) ended up 14th, class debutant Nicolo Bulega (Sky VR46) was 15th and Iker Lecuona (American Racing) was 16th.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Speed Up) had a time good enough to progress to Q2 scrubbed, and will start his first Moto2 race from 19th.

Best of the Forward Racing-run MV Agusta machines was 24th-placed Dominque Aegerter, while Tech 3 KTM pair Marco Bezzecchi and Philipp Oettl struggled down in 28th and 29th.

Q2 results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	23	Marcel Schrotter	Kalex	1'58.585
2	97	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	1'58.731	0.146
3	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	1'58.784	0.199
4	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	1'58.804	0.219
5	87	Remy Gardner	Kalex	1'58.819	0.234
6	22	Sam Lowes	Kalex	1'58.845	0.260
7	12	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	1'59.004	0.419
8	41	Brad Binder	KTM	1'59.038	0.453
9	73	Alex Marquez	Kalex	1'59.062	0.477
10	40	Augusto Fernandez	Kalex	1'59.213	0.628
11	88	Jorge Martin	KTM	1'59.278	0.693
12	9	Jorge Navarro	Speed Up	1'59.325	0.740
13	33	Enea Bastianini	Kalex	1'59.387	0.802
14	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	1'59.397	0.812
15	11	Nicolo Bulega	Kalex	1'59.460	0.875
16	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	1'59.681	1.096
17	5	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	1'59.708	1.123
18	64	Bo Bendsneyder	NTS	1'59.837	1.252

Q1 results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
Q2	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	1'59.154
Q2	11	Nicolo Bulega	Kalex	1'59.303	0.149
Q2	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	1'59.442	0.288
Q2	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	1'59.709	0.555
19	21	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Speed Up	1'59.754	0.600
20	2	Jesko Raffin	NTS	1'59.786	0.632
21	89	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	1'59.931	0.777
22	24	Simone Corsi	Kalex	2'00.024	0.870
23	16	Joe Roberts	KTM	2'00.506	1.352
24	77	Dominique Aegerter	MV	2'00.518	1.364
25	3	Lukas Tulovic	KTM	2'00.836	1.682
26	62	Stefano Manzi	MV	2'00.861	1.707
27	35	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex	2'00.872	1.718
28	72	Marco Bezzecchi	KTM	2'00.880	1.726
29	65	Philipp Ottl	KTM	2'00.929	1.775
30	96	Jake Dixon	KTM	2'00.951	1.797
31	20	Dimas Ekky Pratama	Kalex	2'01.291	2.137
32	18	Xavi Cardelus	KTM	2'02.863	3.709