Friday Oct 5 2007
Qualifying

Magny-Cours (France), Friday 5 October : Ducati Xerox Team men Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss set the pace in today's opening qualifying session for the final round of the World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours in France.
2005 winner Lanzi went three-tenths quicker than his team-mate in the rain-affected hour, the Italian clinching provisional pole in a time of 1m40.962s, despite the track being wet for half the session due to a sudden downpour. Troy, winner here last year, was second ahead of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki).

"Very good, I'm really happy!" declared Lorenzo. "It wasn't an easy session, a bit wet, but in the last ten minutes the track was dry and I was setting dry weather times. It wasn't so wet that you didn't know which tyre to use and run the risk of wasting a tyre. Finally I'm back at the front again and it's a great feeling, it was a pity only because we had a lot of things to try but the work load was ruined by the bad weather. Basically the bike was just the same as this morning, but we've still got the whole day tomorrow to work on things. The feeling is already good, let's hope I can consolidate this position and do a good Superpole that can earn me pole position!"
"That was good for Lorenzo and myself" said Troy. "It was a strange session. I went out pretty confident to try a few things this afternoon, things that probably would have worked but got in half a lap, half-way round the back, and the rain absolutely came out of nowhere. From completely dry to completely wet in one metre and that was it! In the end, when the track dried out it was just a question of going out, going round and getting a bit of confidence. You couldn't really do anything special, the track is dry but the places I wanted to go weren't dry enough. We'll see what happens tomorrow."
Times: 1. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m40.962s; 2. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m41.334s; 3. Haga (Yamaha) 1m41.402s; 4. Nieto (Kawasaki) 1m41.423s; 5. Corser (Yamaha) 1m41.425s; 6. Xaus (Ducati Sterilgarda) 1m41.731s; 7. Toseland (Honda) 1m41.742s; 8. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1m1.840s; 9. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m42.012s; 10. Fabrizio (Honda) 1m42.136s.
TV Coverage Europe: Eurosport 2 (Pan European) - Saturday, 1730 Superpole (live); Sunday, 1030 Superstock 1000 (live), 1200 SBK Race 1 (live), 1530 SBK Race 2 (live). TV Coverage Italy: La 7 (Italy) - Saturday, 1550 Superpole (live); Sunday, 1140 SBK Race 1 (live), 1520 SBK Race 2 (live). RaiDue (Italy) - Sunday, 1730 SBK Race 1 + 2 (highlights).