GSE Racing’s Neil Hodgson has set the fastest time in the first qualifying session, for round seven of the Superbike World Championship at the new Lausitzring circuit in Germany. 

The reigning British Superbike Champion’s lap time of 1:43.018 places him on provisional pole for Sunday’s two races and was the quickest time set by any rider. It also edged out fellow Ducati rider Broc Parkes by three-tenths of a second, while Japanese rider Tady Okada was third fastest.

“It’s great to be on provisional pole,” said the 27-year-old Burnley rider. “It looks as if the weather conditions will be changeable all weekend, so I’ m going to make sure I have a good set-up and right tyre for any eventuality.  It’s been fun learning the new circuit. It’s modern and has been purpose built for spectators, so it doesn’t have strong characteristics like some of the other circuits we race at. I’m still getting adjusted to the track and I think it should produce two close races for the spectators on Sunday.”

Hodgson took advantage of a dry track in the early stages of the one-hour session before rain fell, after 20 minutes. The rain effectively ended the session for the Superbike hopefuls.

Ducati privateer Broc Parkes, 19, was second fastest with Castrol Honda's Tady Okada third, Okada said: "Once the rain came it added about 10 seconds to the lap time so there was no chance of going faster. We took advantage of the wet session and tested some Michelin tyres."

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) set fourth quickest time in Friday first qualifying for round 7 of the World Superbike Championship at the Lausitzring as rain fell during the session to put an end to the dry running time. With rain forecast for tomorrow morning, today’s rain-affected session could prove to be vital in setting a time valid for Superpole on Saturday afternoon.

The championship leader, who had set the pace in the morning’s free practice, bolted on a pair of slicks early in the one-hour session to get a time on the board as rain started to fall after 25 minutes. Bayliss’s time of 1’43.536 was three seconds off the mark he set during Wednesday’s pre-race SBK tests on the all-new EuroSpeedway circuit.

“I didn’t go out in the wet because I didn’t want to take any risks” declared Bayliss. “I was quickest on Wednesday and in this morning’s session and we’ve got a pretty good dry set-up, so I thought it better to wait until tomorrow”.

Troy Corser was 5th - "It's a new track for all of us and the first time we rode here was on Wednesday, during a special test session. I arrived for that one after a quick trip to Australia and back for my grandmother's 80th birthday party and was a little tired. My grandmother didn't know I was coming back specially for it, so it was a real surprise for her. But it was worth it. Today we tried to carry on where we left off on Wednesday, but the damp conditions made it hard to seta really quick time. I don't think that there was a truly dry line for any real amount of time at all. This track feels very slippery in the wet. In the damp, it's not so bad, but if it gets very wet, the water doesn't seem to go away and it's easy to get the bike aquaplaning. It's not a hard track to learn, but it's technical and quite hard to go that bit faster and faster when you try and shave off fractions of a second. A couple of turns are so important if you want to set a really good time. Get them right and you're OK, but get them wrong and you lose time. Overall, I'm happy enough with what we did today and if it's dry tomorrow, I'm sure we'll all go quite a bit quicker."

1999 Australian SuperBike Champion now turned Ducati privateer, Steve Martin, took sixth place with Suzuki's Pierfrancesco Chili - a winner at the last round in Great Britain - seventh, 0.2s faster than team-mate Stephane Chambon.

Kawasaki's wild card rider Hitoyasu Izutsu was ninth with defending world champion Colin Edwards 10th. Edwards commented: "The conditions were impossible but at least I'm in the top 16 and have qualified for Superpole if it rains tomorrow!"

Marty Craggill was 12th quickest.

Ducati L&M rider Ben Bostrom could also only manage 7 laps before an electrical problem put paid to the 27-year-old Californian’s dry track time. With the rain putting paid to the final half-hour, Bostrom also risks being excluded from Superpole if the weather remains the same tomorrow morning. “I ’m really disappointed with today”, said Bostrom. “We didn’t expect to develop a problem and when I came in to switch to my second bike, it started to rain. We just have to hope it stays dry tomorrow morning”.

Ruben Xaus was banking on setting a quick time later on in the session, but the rain dashed any hopes he had of moving up the timesheets and the 23-year-old Spanish rider could only set 21st quickest time in his 7 laps around the 4.265 km circuit. “We had the wrong strategy this afternoon”, commented Xaus. “I went out early on but didn’t push really hard because I was hoping to improve later on in the session”.

Friday's World Superbike championship qualifying times: 
1 Neil Hodgson, GB (Ducati) 1m 43.018s, 
2 Broc Parkes, Australia (Ducati) 1m 43.319s, 
3 Tady Okada, Japan (Castrol Honda) 1m 43.486s, 
4 Troy Bayliss, Australia (Ducati) 1m 43.536s, 
5 Troy Corser, Australia (Aprilia) 1m 43.929s, 
6 Steve Martin, Australia (Ducati) 1m 44.208s, 
7 Pier-Francesco Chili, Italy (Suzuki) 1m 44.511s, 
8 Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki) 1m 44.731s, 
9 Hitoyasu Izutsu, Japan (Kawasaki) 1m 44.785s, 
10 Colin Edwards, USA (Castrol Honda) 1m 44.960s.
11 Lavilla
12 Craggill
13 Borja
14 Laconi
15 Sanchini
16 Stey
17 Ulm
18 Yanagawa
19 Bostrom
20 Toseland
21 Xaus
22 Malatesta
23 Pedercini
24 Borciani
25 Bussei
26 Mrkyvka
27 Campana
28 Holon
29 Wolfsteiner
30 Mulot
31 Preussler
32 Protat

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