Qatar Moto2: Lowes maintains hold for pole

Sam Lowes has maintained his hold on the Moto2 grid at the first race of the year, setting the fastest Moto2 lap ever of the Losail circuit to take pole position despite a crash in the closing stages of the race.

Lowes has dominated all weekend, and held off main rival Johann Zarco by 0.3 with fifteen minutes. By the time his low speed tip off came, his work was already done, and the French rider was unable to touch him.

“I’ve done good all weekend, only made one mistake all weekend, and I’m excited now for tomorrow. Hopefully we can do a good job and people haven’t lost too much faith last year!

“I made mistake – I went too slow on my out lap and the tyre was a bit cold! It was a proper rookie mistake! I won something last year – the most crashes! So I can handle one this weekend!”

Defending world champion Tito Rabat was third, but the Spaniard is still struggling to adapt to the new 2015 Kalex machine, and was left frustrated at the end of the session.