Loads of Brits on the Ferry - Shame About the Weather...

First Qualifying

The fastest individual rider in this afternoon's qualifying sessions was Yamaha GMT94's Sebastien Gimbert, with a time of 1:38.382. Other riders in the 1:38s included SERT Suzuki No.1's Vincent Philippe (1:38.562) and Julien Da Costa (1:38.781), and SERT Suzuki No.2's William Costes (1:38.773).

Although Philippe's time was slower than Gimbert's, the better averages produced by the SERT No.1 riders pushed them to the top of the provisional grid with an average lap time of 1:38.781.

Yamaha GMT94's average time was 1:39.005, good enough for second place, with Team Kawasaki France (1:39.586) third and SERT Suzuki No.2 (1:139.940) fourth.

The Motors-TV MV Agusta (expect the Eurosport commentators to just call it 'the MV Agusta') was a creditable fifth with an average time of 1:41.091; a great performance for a new team.

Yamaha Austria (1:41.244) were seventh, behind leading Superstock team LMS Suzuki (1:41.175), with Kawasaki Bolliger (1:41.523) in eighth place.

Yamaha Phase One (1:42.956) were 13th, with James Haydon's best lap of 1:40.789 a good three seconds quicker than his team mates Damian Cudlin and Stephane Duterne. Duterne crashed towards the end of his session, with minor just damage to the bike and himself.

Folch Yamaha (1:43.391) were 16th, Diablo Kawasaki (1:43.833) 20th, Alf's Kawasaki (1:44.315) 24th, Maco Moto Yamaha (1:45.211) were 37th - feeling the effect of a lack of testing - and the DERT Ducati 1098 (1:45.661) was 42nd.