The first free practice of the 2012 Moto2 season at the Losail circuit in Qatar went to Swiss rider Thomas Luthi.
The Interwetten Suter rider was the fastest rider on track after posting a best time 2′01.
284 on his last flying lap to dislodge Esteve Rabat from the top of timesheets by 0.
402 with his lap time coming to within three tenths of second of Alex de Angelis 2011 race lap record now that the track has more rubber laid down.
Rabat’s Pons Kalex team-mate Pol Espargaro finished the session in third with title favourite Marc Marquez taking fourth spot on his final lap.
Simone Corsi seems to have resolved the FTR chassis problems he had during the Jerez test by taking fifth while Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone came in 6th and the last riders to be within a second from Luthi.
Marc VDS Racing Team’s Mika Kallio and Scott Redding were seventh and eighth respectively while Mike di Meglio and Takaaki Nakagami (Italtrans Racing Team) completed the top ten, while the last rider on the grid was Elena Rossell who was a massive 8 seconds slower than Luthi and 2 seconds slower than new team mate Anthony West who had no Moto2 pre-season testing on QMMF’s Moriwaki.
Moto2 Qatar FP1 results:1 12 Thomas LUTHI Interwetten-Paddock Suter 2′01.
2842 80 Esteve RABAT Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 2′01.
6863 40 Pol ESPARGARO Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 2′01.
9254 93 Marc MARQUEZ Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol Suter 2′02.
0685 3 Simone CORSI Came IodaRacing Project 2′02.
2646 29 Andrea IANNONE Speed Master 2′02.
2817 36 Mika KALLIOMarc VDS Racing Team Kalex 2′02.
3258 45 Scott REDDING Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 2′02.
3299 63 Mike DI MEGLIO Master Speed Up Speed Up 2′02.
41710 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 2′02.
58711 38 Bradley SMITH Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 2′02.
62712 77 Dominique AEGERTER Technomag-CIP Suter 2′02.
65613 60 Julian SIMON Blusens Avintia FTR 2′02.
66714 5 Johann ZARCO JIR Moto2 Motobi 2′02.
69215 71 Claudio CORTI Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 2′02.
84216 15 Alex DE ANGELIS NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 2′03.
00817 76 Max NEUKIRCHNER Kiefer Racing Kalex 2′03.
10318 44 Roberto ROLFO Technomag-CIP Suter 2′03.
16319 24 Toni ELIAS Mapfre Aspar Team Suter 2′03.
20420 19 Xavier SIMEON Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 2′03.
28121 4 Randy KRUMMENACHER GP Team Switzerland Kalex 2′03.
62722 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 2′03.
70523 8 Gino REA Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Moriwaki 2′03.
72824 88 Ricard CARDUS ArguiƱano Racing Team AJR 2′03.
83125 18 Nicolas TEROL Mapfre Aspar Team Suter 2′03.
90626 47 Angel RODRIGUEZ Desguaces La Torre SAG FTR 2′04.
0027 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda Gresini Moto2Moriwaki 2′04.
03728 49 Axel PONS Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 2′05.
63829 7 Alexander LUNDH Cresto Guide MZ Racing MZ FTR 2′06.
76830 95 Anthony WEST QMMF Racing Team Moriwaki 2′07.
27731 96 Nasser Hasan AL MALKI QMMF Racing Team Moriwaki 2′07.
28732 10 Marco COLANDREA SAG Team FTR 2′08.
74233 82 Elena ROSELL QMMF Racing Team Moriwaki 2′09.
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