125cc – Losail qualifying – Terol beats Cortese in the final, Vasquez 3rd

The Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar gets underway, and the first official event is the 125cc qualifying session just held on the Losail track. Nico Terol conquered the first pole position of the 2011 season, dominating all the free practices in recent days. The Spaniard, the most esteemed for the world title, engages in a long-distance battle with the Italian-German Sandro Cortese, who in the final moments was about to succeed in his attempt to snatch the provisional pole from him. In the last available lap, however, Terol managed to take first place on the grid by just 90 thousandths.

The gaps increase considerably from third position onwards: with the third fastest time we find Efren Vasquez, more than a second off the top of the standings. Good performances also for Paris Hilton's team, with Rossano Brazzi in technical command: Gadea closes the front row with the fourth fastest time, while Vinales takes ninth position. Hector Faubel, however, remains rather behind his teammate Terol: at the end of the session he crosses the finish line with the fifth fastest time, almost a second and a half behind the first time. Sixth time, however, for Jonas Folger, followed in seventh place by the Frenchman Zarco. Two other Spaniards close the top ten: Moncayo is eighth, while Salom is tenth.

Difficult day, however, for the Italian drivers: the first in the standings is once again Simone Grotzky Giorgi with the 14th time, 3 seconds from Terol's lap. The pair from the Italia FMI team is further back: Morciano in fact qualifies 19th, while Tonucci is 24th.