Bradl Claims Moto2 Pole In Qatar

Stefan Bradl proved his pre-season form was no fluke as he took pole position for the first race of the new season in Qatar.

The Qualifying session mirrored most of the weekend to date as the battle for top spot quickly became a private duel between Bradl and Marc Marquez. The 125cc World Champion was on the verge of a stunning debut in the middle class as he set a 2:00.375 with 17 minutes still to go.

That time held up until the final two minutes, when Bradl finally found the sweet spot of the Kalex machine to go 0.207 seconds faster than the Spaniard, narrowly failing to go under the two-minute barrier.

The top two had a comfortable cushion over Thomas Luthi, who rounded out the front row for Interwetten Paddock Moto2.

Yuki Takahasi continued his strong form at the Losail International Circuit by taking fourth. The Japanese rider will be joined on row two by Jules Cluzel and 2010 series runner-up Julian Simon.

One of the stars of qualifying was undoubtedly Bradley Smith. The 20 year old from Oxford produced a stunning lap in his first Moto2 qualifying session to take seventh.

The 125cc graduate will start three places ahead of fellow Brit Scott Redding. The Gloucester teenager failed to match his promising practice pace and only climbed into the top 10 in the dying seconds.

A number of the expected title contenders had problematic starts to the season. Andrea Iannone, who spent much of last year challenging for the title, will start down in 16^th, while two-time World SuperSport Champion Kenan Sofuoglu could only manage 28^th.

Kev Coghlan completes the British trio. He also failed to match his practice promise and will start on the eleventh row in 33^rd.

Warm-up for Round One of the 2011 Moto2 World Championship takes place later this evening, with the race itself starts at 17:15 GMT on Sunday.