Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio has snatched provisional pole from under the nose of Ben Spies with a final of run laps which saw him to just less than a hundredth of a second faster than the American.
The injured Yukio Kagayama claimed third place on the front row with a 1'37.209 lap, which was two tenths slower than Fabrizio, while Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea rounds out a provisional front row in fourth.
Sterilgarda Yamaha's Spies came into the first qualifying session late on went into third pace Noriyuki Haga and Rea before grabbing pole with 33 minutes left of the session remaining.
Fabrizio had been quick for most of the session, grabbing third place after only a quarter of an hour but it was his team-mate Haga who was on top of the pile for most of the session with one of his first quick laps.
Carlos Checa, Fabrizio and Ryichi Kiyonari all briefly challenged for the top slot until Spies posted his quickest time with 37 minutes remaining. It wasn't until Fabrizio's last run of three laps saw him get ahead of Spies.
Kawasaki's Broc Parkes was fifth fastest, a little under three-tenths slower than the pole time with Kiyo in sixth, Checa in seventh and Haga slipping into eighth.
Stiggy Honda' Leon Haslam was the next quickest Brit in ninth place, Shane Byrne ended the day in 17 with Tom Sykes two places behind, just under a second in arrears.
