With a time of 1-min 26,398-secs, Bayliss topped the time sheets aboard his Infostrada Ducati 998F-02 as he blasted his way around the demanding 4.221km English circuit. His time was just 0.052 of a second faster than that of his championship rival Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) who was second fastest with a 1:26.450.

Third fastest was Bayliss' Spanish team-mate Ruben Xaus (1:26.599), with local favourite Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) recording the fourth fastest time with a 1:26.722.

"I'm pretty happy to be fastest today, as you never know what might happen tomorrow," said Bayliss after the one-hour qualifying session. "The weather is good here at the moment and even though they have forecast a good weekend, you just never know here. Things went well this afternoon, but we still have to work a bit more on the bike setup as I'm sure we can make the bike work a bit better. We need to get a bit more grip on the rear, but we have some plans for that, so I'm confident that we can go a little bit quicker again."

Bayliss' charge to the top of the time sheet in the afternoon came after he had set the sixth fastest time in the free practice session in the morning, with Edwards setting the fastest time during that session.

"We had a few things to try this morning and I was a little bit slow out of the blocks," Bayliss added. "I always am a little bit slow to get going here at Brands. Colin seems to get going faster than me, but I've got used to that, but everything's headed in the right direction.

Veteran Italian Pierfrancesco Chili recorded the fifth fastest time aboard his NCR Ducati with a 1:26.786, closely followed by British 'wild card' rider Michael Rutter (Renegade Ducati) with a 1:26.877. The top six riders were all under the existing Superbike lap record of 1:26.884 set by American Ben Bostrom at last years corresponding event.

Rounding out the top ten in the opening session were Shane Byrne (Renegade Ducati, 1:27.242), Chris Walker (Fuchs Kawasaki, 1:27.294), Juan Borja (Spaziotel Ducati, 1:27.382) and Noriyuki Haga (Playstation2 Aprilia, 1:27.449).

Bayliss and Edwards shared a win apiece at the last round of the championship at Laguna Seca, but with a total of 14 race wins from 18 starts this season, Bayliss leads the championship points race with four rounds (eight races) of the season remaining, with a total of 405 points, 53 clear of Edwards.

Qualifying for the tenth round of this years championship continues tomorrow morning, before the top sixteen qualifiers to the track for Superpole later in the afternoon.
 

1. Bayliss 1m26.398
2. Edwards 1m26.450
3. Xaus 1m26.599
4. Hodgson 1m26.722
5. Chili 1m26.786
6. Rutter 1m26.877
7. Byrne 1m27.242
8. Walker 1m27.294
9. Borja 1m27.382
10. Haga 1m27.449
11. Lavilla 1m27.510
12. Bostrom 1m27.523
13. Toseland 1m27.766
14. Richards 1m27.939
15. Sanchini 1m27.967
16. Ellison 1m28.064
17. Martin 1m28.069
18. Izutsu 1m28.290
19. Borciani 1m28.871
20. Goddard 1m28.970
21. Pedercini 1m29.054
22. Antonello 1m29.205
23. Clementi 1m29.394
24. Heckles 1m30.219
25. Parkes 1m30.952
26. Stey 1m31.272
27. Gyger 1m32.779