But for late session traffic on the Lausitz circuit Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) may have ended day one of qualifying on the provisional front row, and not the second, but fifth overall on the first official time sheets demonstrated the pace at which Muggeridge has adapted to the tight and twisty Lausitz circuit. James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) experienced some technical obstacles in the early stages, but still qualified eighth fastest on his number two machine.
Championship leader Troy Bayliss headed the timesheets, with 2005 champion Troy Corser behind. One more qualifying session, and then Superpole, takes place on Saturday, with the dry but cool Friday conditions expected to improve overnight.

Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager
“Fairly happy with the results of today, and Karl is doing great around here, especially on his race set-up. He seems to be consistently fast and improving continuously. That’s good to see. James was having a good time earlier this morning but later on he had a bit of a setback. We still have some issues to resolve on the bike but I am sure the crew will be capable enough to fix it for tomorrow. It is quite important here to be at least on the second row, minimum, but even better on the front row. It’s just so tight and twisty around here so you need to be in the front at the very start. We need to work hard on the settings, as always, but we should be OK for tomorrow.”

Karl Muggeridge – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(5th Position – Fastest Lap 1’38.948 – 23 Laps)
“We’re just trying to improve the handling characteristics. Our outright speed is OK and our lap-by-lap is pretty good, we’re just trying to get some more life out of the tyres. The climate change tomorrow, when it is supposed to be warmer, should help. If it doesn’t, then we will keep working away. It was frustrating today sometimes, because very time you wait to the end to try and go quicker you find traffic, and some guys just sit in the middle of the track. It was difficult to find a clear section but things are generally going the way we want them to.”

James Toseland – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(8th Position – Fastest Lap 1’39.347 – 23 Laps)
“We didn’t have a perfect setting at the beginning of the timed session, and then right at the end we tried something now, so no big problems. This morning we had a problem with the gearbox, which is now solved. We are slowly getting the bike to where we wanted it to be and now it’s pretty good.”

Supersport

Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) kicked off his Lausitz weekend in fine style with the second fastest qualifying time of the official afternoon session, while his team-mate Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) went fourth quickest, some 0.709 behind. Fastest rider was Charpentier’s principle championship rival, Kevin Curtain, on 1’41.167.

After a recent test at Lausitz, and an early career spent racing in the German championship, Sofuoglu’s track knowledge was a boon to him as he goes for consecutive race wins in what is his rookie year. Charpentier had to take time to get used to the Lausitz circuit again, but finished on a provisional front row position nonetheless, with another qualifying session available to him on Saturday.

Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager
“I am happy to have both riders on the provisional front row. Kenan is doing very well around here and matching his best time at the test. We will see more from him tomorrow as we are still having some difficulties with his set-up. For Sebastien, who didn’t have the three-day test here, the time is OK, even if we have not quite decided on the gearing of the machine. To be this fast on the first day is OK, but we can still improve quite a bit. We will work hard overnight, but I have to say that overall I am quite satisfied with our performance today.”

Kenan Sofuoglu – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(2nd Fastest - Fastest Lap 1’41.862 - 18 Laps)
“All OK because we had a test here and I have made a better lap times than I did then. Second position is good, but the problem will be the Yamaha rider in front of us, with a gap of almost seven tenths. We still have tomorrow to work on things. The bike is really OK, I just have to improve myself a little bit more. Hopefully I can find half a second or so, and then I can be closer. So I have a mission to improve my lap time and start the race from the front row.”

Sebastien Charpentier – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(4th Fastest - Fastest Lap 1’42.571 - 16 Laps)
“It is the first day so we will have to see how it goes tomorrow. The bike is not perfectly set-up at the moment, and it is necessary to lift it up again, and tomorrow is a new day. There was no test here for me earlier this year, so I have to get used to the track which is slow and not in perfect conditions.”