Although the rain abated in this afternoon’s qualifying session, the track never completely dried out and all riders ended up on intermediate tyres. At the end of a difficult day, Fonsi finished 12th, Max 13th and Yukio 17th. Troy Corser (Yamaha) set the day’s quickest lap, nearly one and a half seconds faster then his nearest rival, Leon Haslam (Honda). Third today was Michel Fabrizio (Ducati), with Ruben Xaus (Ducati) fourth.

Fonsi - 12th, 2:00.194
This is a really good track and one of the best I have ever seen. Technically it is difficult and although it is not so hard to learn, it is not easy to cut those last fractions of a second when you are going for a good lap time. The conditions today were not easy and the damp meant that we never got any dry track time. The track felt a bit dirty today and I think we would have a lot of problems with grip if it rains in the race.

Max -13th, 2:00.263
I like this track. It is technical with a lot of changes of elevation but it was difficult to get a good lap time today because of the conditions and because I was seeing the track for the first time. The riders who tested here definitely have an advantage, so we have a lot of work to do to catch up. The track is very black and I couldn’t work out which parts were really wet and which parts were not, so I it was difficult to push hard. This morning we had a problem with rear grip but it was better in the afternoon. I hope the rest of the weekend will be dry because I want to push hard so that I can challenge for second or third place in the championship.

Yukio - 17th, 2:01.154
I like this track because it has many changes of elevation and it is not so easy, but fun. In some places it is a bit like Brands Hatch and Brno and I like those tracks a lot. My bike feeling was not so bad, but maybe I made a wrong tyre choice this afternoon in qualifying and so my final position was not so good. The people who tested here have an advantage for sure, but if we get two days of dry weather I am sure I can be competitive.

Friday qualifying
1 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:55.791, 2 Haslam (GB-Honda) 1:57.214, 3 Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 1:57.440, 4 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:58.115, 5 Crutchlow (GB-Honda) 1:58.327, 6 Walker (GB-Honda) 1:58.557, 7 Rea (GB-Honda) 1:589.356, 8 Checa (E-Honda) 1:59.676, 9 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:59.939, 10 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 2:00.012, 12 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 2:00.194, 13 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 2:00.263, 17 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 2:01.154,