Vittoriano Guareschi had his home fans going wild as he took pole position for Sunday's fourth round of the World Supersport championship at the Monza circuit in Italy. 

Guareschi set the fastest lap time at the very end of Saturday afternoon's one-hour qualifying session at the sun-kissed circuit on the outskirts of Milan. Honda's Pere Riba - the championship leader - was pipped by Guareschi for pole position while Riba's team-mate Fabien Foret was third.

British rider James Whitham completes the front row of the grid and missed out on his first pole position of the year after he slowed to avoid crash debris with five minutes to go. 

Whitham's Yamaha team-mate Paolo Casoli finished in fifth place to lead a second row completed by a trio of Suzuki's. Katsuaki Fujiwara was sixth with Karl Muggeridge seventh - "It was actually difficult out there again finding a sleep stream and we were running out of time as well. But we had a reasonable set-up on the bike, which helped me to do my fastest lap by my own. In the last lap I went out with a new front and rear: I got a bit a slide and slipped off in the first corner… Anyway, I’m happy with 2nd row, it’s no problem, I was aiming for the front, but second is good, and we do it from there. For the morning warm-up we will concentrate on the race tyres to see if they are the right choice", said Muggas.  Veteran Fabrizio Pirovano qualified in eighth position.

Wild card rider Alessio Corradi was ninth with Scotsman Iain MacPherson 10th on his Kawasaki. Cristiano Migliorati, making his debut for the BKM Honda team, was 15th with Alpha Technik's Marcus Barth 21st, BKM's Kevin Curtain 24th, Castrol Honda's Chris Vermeulen 28th and Adam Fergusson, on an Alpha Technik Honda, 32nd. 

Vermeulen commented: "I was certain of getting in the top 15 but we had trouble with the best motor halfway through that session so it's made life tough for tomorrow's race. If I can get a good start I'm sure I can challenge for a good finish in the race."

Final World Supersport qualifying: 

1 Vittoriano Guareschi, Italy (Ducati) 1m 53.858s, 
2 Pere Riba, Spain (Honda) 1m 53.985s, 
3 Fabien Foret, France (Honda) 1m 54.019s, 
4 James Whitham, GB (Yamaha) 1m 54.272s, 
5 Paolo Casoli, Italy (Yamaha) 1m 54.521s, 
6 Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 1m 54.620s, 
7 Karl Muggeridge, Australia (Suzuki) 1m 54.909s, 
8 Fabrizio Pirovano, Italy (Suzuki) 1m 54.927s, 
9 Alessio Corradi, Italy (Yamaha) 1m 54.991s, 
10 Iain MacPherson, GB (Kawasaki) 1m 55.012s.
11 Kellner
12 Bontempi
13 Iannuzzo
14 Pitt
15 Migliorati
16 Daemen
17 Cruciani
18 Teuchert
19 Lindholm
20 Cogan
21 Barth
22 Thomas
23 Clementi
24 Curtain
25 Le Grelle
26 Pizzagalli
27 Hamaguchi
28 Vermeulen
29 G Guareschi
30 Bulega
31 Carlacci
32 Fergusson
33 Escobar
34 Hanson
35 Johnson