Lorenzo Baldassarri claimed his second ever pole position in Buriram ahead of Alex Marquez and Luca Marini.
In what was shaping up to be a typically slow Moto2 qualifying session, Baldassarri and Pasini traded early fast laps whilst the MotoGP Michelin grip was down at the track was at its most grippy.
Baldassarri ended up getting the better of his vastly experienced compatriot by 0.153 seconds pulling out a 1:36.374 in the early stages.
The session then went through a mid session lull, but sparked back into life in the final ten minutes. Sat in a provisional second, Pasini continued to push and was on exactly the same time as Baldassarri through three sectors with eight minutes to go, only to lose the front end of his Italtrans bike.
Times continued to tumble and red sectors started lighting up the timing screens. Both Alex Marquez and Luca Marini had red sectors going into the final sector, however neither had the pace to pip the tall Italian with the front row being covered by just 0.036 seconds.
In spite of the crash, Pasini’s time was enough to keep him in fourth place, albeit just 0.002 seconds clear of the two title rivals Miguel Oliveira and Pecco Bagnaia who will start from fifth and sixth respectively.
Aragon winner Brad Binder will start from seventh and he will be joined on the second row by Fabio Quartararo and Augusto Fernandez.
