Takaaki Nakagami was the surprise pacesetter at the end of the opening day of Moto2 running at Losail ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. The Japanese rider, who had shown impressive pace to go second in the first session, went one better in FP2 to deny Tuenti HP 40 a 1-2.
The Italtrans rider was on the pace immediately in the second session, going quicker than Pol Espargaro’s FP1 benchmark within eight minutes of the lights going green. A 2:01.406 saw to that but Esteve Rabat would quickly move ahead before the two started trading fastest times. Nakagami improved to a 2:01.294 before Espargaro finally hit the front twelve minutes from the end, however that only prompted an even faster lap from Pol who clocked a 2:01.110 lap to take back top spot.
The title favourite would only end the night in third place though as his teammate Rabat muscled ahead, even if he couldn’t quite break into the 2:00s bracket. Instead, that would be left to Nakagami whose final lap of the night would be a 2:00.924, a little under a tenth inside Esteve’s time.
Scott Redding was on the pace of the leading trio for much of the session, finishing a comfortable fourth, with Julian Simon ensuring a Kalex lockout of the top five, just as they had in the first session. Once again, Simone Corsi was the nearest challenger in sixth while Dominique Aegerter took over as the leading Suter rider in seventh. Mika Kallio was eighth ahead of Alex De Angelis on the second Speed Up with former 125cc winner at this circuit, Nicolas Terol, rounding out the top ten.
While NGM Mobile Forward Racing got two of their riders into the top ten, one of their others had a session to forget as Mattia Pasini suffered a crash on his second timed lap. The Italian dived up the inside of Steven Odendaal before the front end of his Speed Up folded underneath him, sweeping up Odendaal in the process. Both riders were uninjured but neither could do better than 26th where Pasini ended up.
Danny Kent improved by a second and a half from the first session to finish 24th while Kyle Smith made a jump of almost two seconds to go 30th.
 Moto2 Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar: Combined Thursday Classification |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Constructor | Team | Best Time |
| 1 |  Takaaki Nakagami |
Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 2:00.924 |
| 2 |  Esteve Rabat |
Pons Kalex | Tuenti HP 40 | 2:01.016 |
| 3 | Pol Espargaro |
Pons Kalex | Tuenti HP 40 | 2:01.110 |
| 4 |  Scott Redding |
Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | 2:01.433 |
| 5 | Julian Simon |
Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 2:01.838 |
| 6 |  Simone Corsi |
Speed Up | NGM Mobile Racing | 2:01.846 |
| 7 |  Dominique Aegerter |
Suter | Technomag carXpert | 2:01.940 |
| 8 |  Mika Kallio |
Kalex | Marc VDS Racing Team | 2:01.981 |
| 9 |  Alex De Angelis |
Speed Up | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:02.051 |
| 10 | Nicolas Terol |
Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | 2:02.121 |
| 11 |  Ratthapark Wilairot |
Suter | Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2 | 2:02.323 |
| 12 | Axel Pons |
Pons Kalex | Tuenti HP 40 | 2:02.527 |
| 13 |  Mike Di Meglio |
Motobi | JIR Moto2 | 2:02.601 |
| 14 |  Marcel Schrotter |
Kalex | Desguaces La Torre SAG | 2:02.638 |
| 15 | Sandro Cortese |
Kalex | Dynavolt Intact GP | 2:02.694 |
| 16 | Randy Krummenacher |
Suter | Technomag carXpert | 2:02.755 |
| 17 | Johann Zarco |
Suter | Came IodaRacing Project | 2:02.800 |
| 18 | Toni Elias |
Kalex | Blusens Avintia | 2:02.843 |
| 19 | Jordi Torres |
Suter | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | 2:03.134 |
| 20 | Louis Rossi |
Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | 2:03.145 |
| 21 | Ricard Cardus |
Speed Up | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:03.181 |
| 22 |  Xavier Simeon |
Kalex | Desguaces La Torre Zelos | 2:03.208 |
| 23 | Sergio Gadea |
Suter | Interwetten Paddock | 2:03.405 |
| 24 | Danny Kent |
Tech 3 | Tech 3 Racing | 2:03.420 |
| 25 |  Anthony West |
Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | 2:03.427 |
| 26 | Mattia Pasini |
Speed Up | NGM Mobile Racing | 2:03.775 |
| 27 | Yuki Takahashi |
Moriwaki | Honda Racing Asia Tady | 2:04.019 |
| 28 |  Doni Tata Pradita |
Suter | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 2:05.087 |
| 29 | Alberto Moncayo |
Speed Up | Arguiñano & Gines Racing | 2:05.131 |
| 30 | Kyle Smith |
Kalex | Blusens Avintia | 2:05.732 |
| 31 |  Steven Odendaal |
Speed Up | Arguiñano & Gines Racing | 2:06.120 |
| 32 | Rafid Topan Sucipto |
Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | 2:07.050 |
