Thomas Luthi beats Stefan Bradl to Sepang Moto2 pole as injured Marc Marquez settles for back row
Thomas Luthi claimed his maiden Moto2 pole position at Sepang, but the big story of the session was that Stefan Bradl qualified 34 places ahead of his title rival Marc Marquez
Marquez, who goes into the penultimate race of the year three points behind Bradl, has been in pain since a heavy crash on an unflagged wet area right at the start of Friday practice.
The Spaniard sat out the rest of practice before returning to the track for qualifying, where he did the required two laps to qualify and took 36th on the 37-bike grid.
Meanwhile Bradl held provisional pole until the closing minutes, when Luthi slipped ahead by 0.212 seconds.
Bradl can clinch the title tomorrow if he wins and Marquez is lower than 13th.
Michele Pirro earned his first Moto2 front row start even though he crashed twice. His time held for third despite a late improvement by his Gresini team-mate Yuki Takahashi, who took fourth.
The Espargaro brothers complete row two, with Pol ahead of Aleix.
Marc VDS duo Mika Kallio and Scott Redding line up seventh and ninth, sharing row three with Claudio Corti. Mattia Pasini was the final man in the top 10.
Having broken his collarbone in a crash at the same time as Marquez, Bradley Smith will miss this weekend's race.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Thomas Luthi Interwetten Suter 2m07.512s 2. Stefan Bradl Kiefer Kalex 2m07.724s + 0.212s 3. Michele Pirro Gresini Moriwaki 2m08.004s + 0.492s 4. Yuki Takahashi Gresini Moriwaki 2m08.069s + 0.557s 5. Pol Espargaro Speed Up FTR 2m08.107s + 0.595s 6. Aleix Espargaro Pons Kalex 2m08.154s + 0.642s 7. Mika Kallio Marc VDS Suter 2m08.240s + 0.728s 8. Claudio Corti Italtrans Suter 2m08.319s + 0.807s 9. Scott Redding Marc VDS Suter 2m08.412s + 0.900s 10. Mattia Pasini Ioda FTR 2m08.414s + 0.902s 11. Alex de Angelis JIR Motobi 2m08.417s + 0.905s 12. Esteve Rabat Blusens FTR 2m08.466s + 0.954s 13. Andrea Iannone Speed Master Suter 2m08.520s + 1.008s 14. Simone Corsi Ioda FTR 2m08.549s + 1.037s 15. Max Neukirchner MZ 2m08.620s + 1.108s 16. Anthony West MZ 2m08.714s + 1.202s 17. Mike di Meglio Tech 3 2m08.855s + 1.343s 18. Jules Cluzel Forward Suter 2m08.934s + 1.422s 19. Kenan Sofuoglu Technomag-CIP Suter 2m09.015s + 1.503s 20. Dominique Aegerter Technomag-CIP Suter 2m09.087s + 1.575s 21. Joan Olive Castello FTR 2m09.278s + 1.766s 22. Raffaele de Rosa Forward Suter 2m09.307s + 1.795s 23. Xavier Simeon Tech 3 2m09.315s + 1.803s 24. Valentin Debise Speed Up FTR 2m09.382s + 1.870s 25. Axel Pons Pons Kalex 2m09.472s + 1.960s 26. Santiago Hernandez SAG FTR 2m09.625s + 2.113s 27. Jordi Torres Aspar Suter 2m09.686s + 2.174s 28. Mohamad Zamri Baba Petronas Moriwaki 2m09.822s + 2.310s 29. Randy Krummenacher Kiefer Kalex 2m09.911s + 2.399s 30. Kenny Noyes Avintia FTR 2m10.319s + 2.807s 31. Robertino Pietri Italtrans Suter 2m10.348s + 2.836s 32. Ivan Moreno Aspar Suter 2m10.875s + 3.363s 33. Yonny Hernandez Blusens FTR 2m11.022s + 3.510s 34. Hafizh Syahrin Petronas Moriwaki 2m11.388s + 3.876s 35. Mashel Al Naimi QMMF Moriwaki 2m12.180s + 4.668s 36. Marc Marquez Catalunya Suter 2m12.864s + 5.352s 37. Apiwat Wongthananon SAG FTR 2m13.201s + 5.689s
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