Karl - "Front row would've been a nice way to start the season, but second row is OK here as the first turn is a long way from the start line. Of course I need a good start and also I need to keep out of trouble ­ Supersport races have a habit of getting pretty physical and so I need to be careful on the first lap! Today we tried out quite a few things and we managed to make the bike better ­ even though it was quite good yesterday. When we tried softer tyres it seemed to upset the bike a little, and we have to re-adjust the bike to counteract the effect. I'm pretty happy with the set-up we've got for the race and I'm really looking forward to starting the season off ­ preferably with a good result. It's been a long wait since the end of the last season, but I'm raring to go and give it my best ­ hopefully having some fun at the same time."

Sixth place went to Belgian Yamaha rider Werner Daemen in a close-fought line-up which left the top 16 riders - the first four rows of the grid - separated by less than one second.

Defending world champion Jorg Teuchert will start from seventh place with Christophe Cogan completing row two, in eighth place. Teuchert's Yamaha Germany team-mate Christian Kellner was ninth fastest with Vittoriano Guareschi 10th.

Castrol Honda's Chris Vermeulen will start from the fourth row, in 13th place, losing out on row three by one place in the final minute of the session. BKM Honda's Kevin Curtain will start from 17th and his team-mate Ivan Goi from 31st. The Alpha Technik Honda team riders, Markus Barth and Alex Gobert will start from 20th and 29th places respectively.

"Another 0.3s off my time and I'd have been on the front row, that's how close this class is," explained Vermeulen. "We changed one engine last night, matching the best chassis with the strongest engine for today and it's worked out well.

"I also lowered the front of the machine just for a better feel and that's improved the turning. All I concentrated on this afternoon was doing some laps. I spent all yesterday and this morning working on set-up and this afternoon I just wanted to do some laps.

"I tried a softer compound rear tyre for qualifying but I'm not experienced enough yet to get the best out of those tyres, it's something I really need to learn, and quickly. I'm pretty confident for the race, there's only two or three riders going faster than me on race tyres and this place is pretty good for passing."