"I'm happy with my time," declared Foret. "But the important thing to me is the race. Of course it is great to be on pole but I am not letting it go to my head. I will try to win the race, but the important thing for me is to finish in a good position so I can fight for the championship."

Suzuki's Stephane Chambon will start alongside Foret as the 1999 World Supersport champion makes his return to the championship after two years aboard a factory Suzuki World Superbike machine.

Alessio Corradi failed to improve on his best lap from Friday but that was enough to guarantee the Italian Yamaha rider a front row start, from third place.

Stefano Cruciani completes the front row as German Jorg Teuchert, the 2000 world champion, heads a second row which includes Honda's Chris Vermeulen in sixth, Christian Kellner seventh and defending world champion Andrew Pitt in eighth. Chambon's team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara qualified in ninth with Iain MacPherson 10th on the second of the Ten Kate Hondas.

The Honda UK Race Team's Karl Muggeridge and John McGuinness qualified in 17th and 25th places respectively with both riders improving by almost a second on their Friday times.

"We're not in bad shape," said Muggeridge. "We're just three days behind the rest after missing the test here two weeks ago through injury. I'm only a second away from a front row start."

Final World Supersport qualifying times:

1. Fabien Foret, France (Honda) 1m 37.674s,
2. Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki) 1m 38.539s,
3. Alessio Corradi, Italy (Yamaha) 1m 38.730s,
4. Stefano Cruciani, Italy (Yamaha) 1m 38.777s,
5. Jorg Teuchert, Germany (Yamaha) 1m 38.833s,
6. Chris Vermeulen, Australia (Honda) 1m 38.877s,
7. Christian Kellner, Germany (Yamaha) 1m 38.877s,
8. Andrew Pitt, Australia (Kawasaki) 1m 39.013s,
9. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan (Suzuki) 1m 39.029s,
10. Iain MacPherson, GB (Honda) 1m 39.121s.