Luthi tops first Qatar Moto2 practice, top 20 covered by a second

Thomas Luthi led the field in first practice for the Qatar Moto2 event, the Swiss posting a 1:59.168 as the top 20 were covered by less than a second.

Luthi moved to the top spot at around two-thirds of the way through the session, demoting Luca Marini’s VR46 bike by just over a tenth.

This time would ultimately remain unbeaten, although Jorge Martin would get close with a late flyer that saw him denied the top spot by just 0.017.

Aron Canet made a promising start to life in Moto2 with the third quickest time on his Aspar-run Speed Up, the ’19 Moto3 runner-up managing the third fastest effort that was less than a tenth down on Luthi’s benchmark.

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Augusto Fernandez slotted into fourth for Marc VDS, while Joe Roberts made a strong start with American Racing to round out the top five.

Remy Gardner dragged the most from his ’19-spec Kalex chassis to close out the session in sixth, just ahead og Marini who slipped to seventh by the chequered flag.

Marco Bezzecchi-who led the session early on-ultimately fell to eighth by close of play, heading the factory Speed Up of Jorge Navarro and Marcel Schrotter on the second Dynavolt machine who completed the top ten.

Turn 6 continued meanwhile to claim victims as it did in the preceding Moto3 session, with three riders tucking the front of their machines heading into the tight left hander.

Xavi Vierge was the first to slip-up shortly after the session got underway, with Enea Bastianani also going down quickly afterwards-the duo ending up 16^th and 13^th fastest respectively.

Navarro then lost the front of his Speed Up just before the half-way point of the session, but was able to pick his machine up and continue-as did the former pair.

Sam Lowes managed to complete the session despite still struggling badly with the shoulder injury he picked up during the winter, albeit down in 28^th with a time two seconds down on Luthi’s.

It remains to be seen whether he continues to take part in the weekend, with a decision likely after the second free practice session later this afternoon.