Stefan Bradl dominated the Moto2 season opener in Qatar, leaving a spectacular battle for second place in his wake.
Just as Nico Terol had done in the preceding 125cc event, Bradl surged away from pole position and never looked back. Although his performance was not quite as crushing as Terol's had been in the smaller class, Bradl got his lead up to seven seconds for a while and crossed the line 4.3s in front of the pack, having been in a class of his own.
Andrea Iannone battled through from 16th on the grid to take an excellent second place, pushing Tom Luthi back to third.
Alex de Angelis also mounted a late charge to grab fourth from long-time podium contender Yuki Takahashi, as the riders in second through fifth places battled all the way to the flag.
Simone Corsi fended off Jules Cluzel and Michele Pirro to take sixth, while Bradley Smith hung on to ninth on his Moto2 debut - leading home last year's championship runner-up Julian Simon and ex-MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro.
Front-row qualifier Marc Marquez tumbled down the order at the start, quickly fought back from 11th to sixth, but then crashed out on lap four.
Another man to fall early was regular frontrunner Scott Redding, who rejoined and battled to 23rd with a damaged bike.