Hodgson’s time of 1:42.687 was just 0.7s off the fastest time, set by provisional pole-sitter Troy Bayliss and just marginally slower than his blistering 2001 Superpole time. The 28-year-old Brit is pleased with the way things are shaping up: “It’s good that we’re so close to Troy so early on. The factory teams have all tested here previously and already have 99% of their setting sorted. HM Plant Ducati/GSE Racing hasn’t been here since last year’s race, so to be fifth fastest despite being at an apparent disadvantage is encouraging. This is only the first day of three, and I always improve as the weekend progresses.”

James Toseland is also relishing the prospect of racing at the challenging and rewarding Kyalami circuit. His time of 1:43.449 was 0.5s quicker than his best lap from 2001.

“A provisional third row start is about right because I have had a few minor problems with set-up,” said the 21-year-old Yorkshireman. “Today I seemed to take a bit of a step backwards from last year’s settings, so I wasn’t able to go quite as quick as I wanted to. This isn’t much of an issue, because all we have to do is click things back to where they were and take it from there. I’ll fine tune things a little during practice tomorrow and then clock some serious times in qualifying, so just watch out!”

1. Bayliss - 1m41.961
2. Edwards - 1m41.973
3. Bostrom - 1m41.996
4. Xaus - 1m42.505
5. Hodgson - 1m42.687
6. Haga - 1m42.830
7. Chili - 1m42.929
8. Pedercini - 1m43.304
9. Borja - 1m43.336
10. Toseland - 1m43.449
11. Izutsu - 1m43.525
12. Martin - 1m44.023
13. Borciani - 1m44.061
14. Foti - 1m44.205
15. Walker - 1m44.350
16. Parkes - 1m44.486
17. Lavilla - 1m44.508
18. Sanchini - 1m44.872
19. Antonello - 1m45.018
20. Stey - 1m46.060
21. Heckles - 1m46.459
22. Mrkyvka - 1m47.687
23. Clementi - 1m49.170
24. Gyger - 1m53.077

WSBK Friday Qualifying 1 - Honda Report - Aprilia Report - Ducati Report - NCR Report - GSE Report