The young German was the only rider to get near Troy's 1min 44.931secs and, having been fastest of all in both first and second qualifying, looks ready to fight for a debut victory he came within one corner of taking at Valencia.
"I'm really happy with the second place and I think we found a good race set-up for tomorrow," said Max. "My engine felt strong today and although I made a small mistake in Superpole I'm happy to be on the front row of the grid. Monza is a fast track and I hope to enjoy myself and have some fun tomorrow.
"It's great to be up at the front with the other guys regularly in World Superbike, and now I feel really good in the team," he added. "I know it's only a second place I did, I made one little mistake in Superpole, but am really satisfied with today's performance."
Suzuki Alstare team-mate
Yukio Kagayama thought his Superpole lap was a fast one, but was disappointed to find out he'd only set the fifth quickest time.
"It's funny but I really thought that my Superpole was a good one and that it was fast also," said the Japanese. "But when I saw the times I realised that it had only been good enough for fifth position and I was disappointed. Today we did a lot of good work and tested many tyres so we have a good idea of what set-up to use tomorrow. Maybe we'll make some small adjustments in the warm-up tomorrow morning but the bike is pretty good at the moment, so the rest is up to me!"
Third Alstare rider
Fonsi Nieto will start from seventh.
"Yesterday, I think I lost my way a bit so I feel that my weekend only started today," declared the Spaniard. "Now my bike is getting better and although I still have problems in two corners, we are going in the right direction. This racetrack is strange and there are many different points, like braking and slipstreaming, to consider. We more or less know which tyres we will use, but a lot depends on the weather. But anyway, I'm a lot happier today then I was yesterday."
