Flexbox HP40 Pons Moto2 rider Augusto Fernandez held off late charges from Tom Luthi and Sam Lowes to claim the first pole position in his Moto2 career at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the front row covered by just 0.029 seconds.

It was Luthi who was the initial session leader, before free practice fast man Jorge Navarro took over the top spot from the Swiss rider. Navarro didn’t have it long however, when Fernandez, slip-streaming his team-mate Lorenzo Baldassarri, posted the fastest time, a 1:44.170.

Try as they might, Luthi, Alex Marquez and Lowes continued to get fastest, however none of them, nor the SpeedUp duo of Navarro or Fabio Di Giannantonio could do anything about Fernandez’ time, leaving the 21-year-old to claim his first Moto2 pole position.

Luthi had to settle for second place, just 0.0021 seconds behind, with Lowes in third a further 0.008 seconds behind the Dynavolt man.

Navarro will head the second row in fourth place, with his team-mate, Di Giannantonio in fifth with form man Alex Marquez in sixth place.

World Championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri will start from the front of the third row in seventh position, with Nico Bulega and Andrea Locatelli rounding out the third row.

Enea Bastianini will start from tenth with Remy Gardener and Marcel Schrotter in eleventh and twelfth places respectively.