The Ducati rider set his time with less than three minutes to go in the one-hour session and his team-mate Ben Bostrom moved into second place on his final lap of the session. “Yeah, that was really good, we’ve still got a little way to go though because I’m second and I want to be first!. I’m confident we’ll get the bike even better and the rider will be even more dialed in for tomorrow.”

Aprilia's Troy Corser, the championship leader, was third quickest - "I took it fairly easily today and didn't really push hard at all. The new chicane is very different to before and I spent a lot of time today trying out different braking points. It's a one-line chicane and one that you have to get right to do a good lap. Also, it's important to be in front and then the others can slow each other down behind you. The Aprilia was working well today and so were the tyres and we didn't have any problems. Tomorrow we'll make a few little adjustments and see if we can improve the bike. I'm reasonably happy at the moment, but a front row grid position is what's really important tomorrow. That's what we'll be chasing, though pole would be nice too!."

Reigning British Superbike champion Neil Hodgson fourth - “I’ve not had a problem adjusting to the new configuration of the circuit, I don’t think it will affect me that much, but it may throw up a challenge to some of the other riders who were comfortable with the old layout. I was held up when I had the best qualifying tyres on my bike, but I feel that we have a good package and a lot more potential, so we should be able to secure a better time tomorrow. Although we haven’t had much time to prepare for Monza, I’m glad to be back in Europe. The team has done a great job in setting up the bikes and getting them on the pace at the fastest circuit in the Superbike calendar.”

Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards bounced back from a high speed crash at the Ascari chicane to take fifth place. Edwards, at the top of the leader board when he crashed, commented: "I just lost the front going into the Ascari. We were trying a soft compound front tyre and I lost grip. I walked away without injury but I was half a second up on the first split on that lap so it would have been a good lap time."

Aprilia's wild card rider Alessandro Antonello was sixth fastest with Italian Pier-Francesco Chili, a winner last year at Monza seventh - "I took it fairly steadily in the morning because the rain overnight had left the track damp in places. It was only possible to start doing good work in the afternoon. I am sure that, tomorrow, on a dry track, we will be further up the grid. I am really looking forward to giving my fans a good display on my home track," said Chili.

Italian Ducati privateer Lucio Pedercini took eighth place to complete the provisional front row before Saturday morning's final qualifying and the afternoon's Superpole competition.

Kawasaki's Akira Yanagawa was ninth with Pedercini's team-mate Marco Borciani 10th.

Xaus is 11th - “It’s only Friday and we’re trying out a lot of different things, there was a lot of traffic out there but that ’s not an excuse. Tomorrow I know I can go a lot better. I just need to be more confident in the final part of the track from Ascari onwards and open the throttle a bit more."

Friday's World Superbike qualifying times: 
1 Troy Bayliss, Australia (Ducati) 1m 48.677s, 
2 Ben Bostrom, USA (Ducati) 1m 49.421s, 
3 Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 1m 49.622s, 
4 Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 1m 49.748s, 
5 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 1m 49.890s, 
6 Alessandro Antonello, Italy (Aprilia) 1m 49.913s, 
7 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 1m 50.225s, 
8 Lucio Pedercini, Italy (Ducati) 1m 50.253s, 
9 Akira Yanagawa, Japan (Kawasaki) 1m 50.366s, 
10 Marco Borciani, Italy (Ducati) 1m 50.403s.