The day started overcast, but the sun soon burned off the clouds and the temperatures began to rise straightaway. When Superpole began, the track temperature was over 50 degrees centigrade and the sixteen rider shoot out was dominated by Ducatis. They filled six out of the top seven places, but it was Troy Corser’s Yamaha that topped them all. The Aussie lapped under 1:36 - the only rider to do so - to claim his forty-second pole position of his career. Fonsi ended ninth fastest, with Max tenth, with Yukio defying the pain barrier to finish thirteenth.

Fonsi - 9th, 1:36.746
Today was very hard, because of the heat, but also because we have six very strong Ducatis in the championship and this circuit seems to suit them well. It’s going to be two hard races tomorrow and the heat is going to affect the performance of the tyres for sure. My Superpole wasn’t so bad and one tenth of a second made such a big difference. It seems that I’m never lucky on my Superpole lap, so once again I’m going to have to get two good starts in the races to get good results.

Max - 10th, 1:36.856
My first Superpole split was good, but the second was not because I made a small mistake at one of the fast right-handers and lost a little time. I’ve had a little problem getting the bike to keep the line on the brakes and that has been costing me time. My set-up is not quite right, so we may try something in the warm-up tomorrow and see if we can improve the bike. It’s really strange to see six Ducatis in the top seven, but I am determined to get two good starts and make sure they don’t dominate the races.

Yukio - 13th, 1:37.243
I think the base set-up of my bike is quite good, so we will not make any big changes in the warm-up tomorrow. We’ve been working a lot on the electronics, trying to improve the feeling of the bike and we’re making progress. But my biggest problem is my injury. I had a small painkilling injection this morning, but I don’t think it worked! I had a stronger one in the afternoon, but I was still suffering a lot of pain - especially on the braking. Tomorrow is going to be very, very hard. But my job is a racer and I have to race tomorrow. If I have to forget the pain, that’s what I have to do, because I want to race.

Final qualifying
1 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:35.993, 2 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:36.106, 3 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:36.189, 4 Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 1:36.403, 5 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1:36.506, 6 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:36.609, 7 Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:36.652, 8 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:36.691, 9 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:36.746, 10 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:36.856, 13 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 1:37.243