The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider lapped in 1min 38.501secs a good half second under the best lap time seen at the French circuit.
Joining him on the much coveted front row of the grid is young gun Max Neukirchner who is standing in for the injured
Yukio Kagayama. He was just 0.023secs off Toseland's time and has been impressive given that this is his first time on the Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki.
Troy Corser on the Yamaha Italia bike lines up in third place with his hard riding team-mate
Noriyuki Haga completing the front row of the grid in fourth place.
It was Toseland's birthday yesterday and as he came on stage at the paddock show for the press conference he was greeted by a rowdy rendition of “Happy Birthday”. “Thanks for that!” he grinned, “We had a few problems in warm-up ahead of Superpole but we went back to what we know and the bike was working well. For the lap times to be under 1min 39secs is amazing. For Max Biaggi to do a 1min 38.982secs and end up sixth with that time……I've got to say well done to Max Neukirchner, first time on the front row this year.”
Neukirchner was asked if there would be team orders on race day and he said, “Max Biaggi is fighting for the title so I think I must help him.” Toseland promptly replied, “Whatever Biaggi is paying you, I'll pay you double not to help!”
Toseland would like to go out and win rather than finish further down and just pick up points as he explained, “If I can win comfortably then I'll go for it like at Brands. We've had set-up and electronic problems this weekend but if it works well in warm-up I'll go for it. I made a mistake at Vallelunga but there is no room for mistakes here. I'm 29 points in the lead so it is mine to lose. Its great to get pole position here at Magny-Cours, it is a special place. I want to say thank you to everyone in Superbike, it is nice to finish on a pole position.”
