Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner ended with the ninth quickest time, but Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama is still suffering problems with his left hand and could only manage eleventh. Local hero Jakub Smrz (Ducati) sent the home fans wild by topping the standings at the end of today’s qualifying session. Second is Aussie Troy Corser (Yamaha), ahead of fellow countryman Troy Bayliss (Ducati), with Max Biaggi (Ducati) fourth.

Fonsi - 6th, 1:59.926
I’m quite happy today and feel very positive about tomorrow - as long as the weather stays OK and it doesn’t rain. Today we tried two different styles of bike. We tried a new style of balance and new spec engine on one bike and an old style balance and old spec engine on the other. At the end, my preference was for a new style balance together with an old spec engine. We are working a lot on the suspension and trying to get the front forks to absorb better. The track has new asphalt and in the afternoon the grip felt similar to the morning, but the tyre life was better. If it stays dry, I think that the grip will improve some more and the lap times will come down further.

Max - 9th, 2.00.179
I think today went well and we didn’t have so many problems. The track asphalt is a bit strange at the moment because we used hard tyres and the tyre life was not as good as when we changed to softer ones! We altered the chassis set-up in the afternoon to help me keep the line in a corner and we will continue to work on this. The new asphalt definitely has more grip and I am sure that the laps times will improve quite a bit as long as it doesn’t rain.

Yukio - 11th, 2:00.361
The ligaments in my left hand are still giving me some problems, and my strength there is not yet 100%, but the pain is less. The track doesn’t feel the same as last year and the new surface reminds me of Qatar - sandy, with not a good feeling. But the lap times are not so bad. We made a little mistake with the settings in the beginning of the afternoon, qualifying, but changed them at the end of the session and improved the feeling. Tomorrow we will make some adjustments to the front and rear suspension and see if we can the bike better entering the corners.

Friday qualifying
1 Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:59.125, 2 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:59.493, 3 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:59.517, 4 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1:59.747, 5 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:59.850, 6 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:59.926, 7 Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 2:00.024, 8 Canepa (I-Ducati) 2:00.131, 9 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 2:00.179, 10 Xaus (E-Ducati) 2:00.196, 11 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 2:00.361,