Yukio was closest, with eleventh, with Fonsi fourteenth and Max nineteenth. The rain started in the morning and became heavier throughout the day and resulted in many crashes, including two by Max. Fortunately the young German was not injured and he, like all the riders, is hoping for an improvement in the conditions tomorrow. Japanese rider Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) topped the standings today, with Ruben Xaus (Ducati) second, Troy Bayliss (Ducati) third and Troy Corser (Yamaha) fourth.

Yukio - 11th, 1:52.507
Today the track was very slippery and although my feeling for the track is better than Donington it is not prefect yet. This track is a bit strange because there are two different parts with different surfaces. Funnily enough the older part has the better grip than the newer part. The new section had a lot of standing water in many places this afternoon and there it was impossible to see the track because you can only see water! I hope the conditions are better tomorrow.

Fonsi - 14th, 1:52.719
We started with our wet set-up from Donington and made some changes to the mapping and other small changes. I feel I have more grip here than I had in Donington, because there I could hardly lean the bike over. There is a lot of standing water round this track, particularly in the last corner and it’s difficult to see exactly where the track is. Like everybody else, I am hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Max - 19th, 1:53.336
This is a difficult place because there are two different track surfaces and the grip level is different in both of them. For me, the older section has better grip than the newer part, but there are some places on the track where there is so much water you cannot see the surface at all. I had two crashes today, but no injury, so it’s no big thing at all. The first crash happened when the rear end just suddenly came round without any warning and I fell. The second was because there was just too much standing water and I hit it and crashed. It was quite easy to do!

Friday qualifying
1 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:50.595, 2 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:50.879, 3 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:51.146, 4 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:51.228, 5 Kiyonari (J-Honda) 1:51.419, 6 Lavilla (E-Honda) 1:52.012, 7 C.Checa (E-Honda) 1:52.143, 8 Rolfo (I-Honda) 1:52.407, 9 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:52.463, 10 Walker (GB-Honda) 1:52.466, 11 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 1:52.507, 14 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:52.719, 19 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:53.336,