Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Troy Corser and James Haydon both made good progress on the opening day of the final round of the World Superbike championship at the French circuit of Magny-Cours.

Troy finished the afternoon qualifying session seventh fastest with a time of 1:42.089, exactly one second off the pace set by Chris Walker.

The Australian had spent most of the afternoon session holding the third fastest time on race tyres and admitted that a mistake on his flying lap on a qualifying tyre had prevented him from finishing higher up the day one standings.

Troy said: “I am pretty happy with the time, especially on race tyres, although I know I can be in the low 41s or even high 40s by tomorrow. The best times are pretty much the same as the test here two weeks ago, despite the fact they have made the start-finish straight slower by narrowing it at both ends. On my first lap on the qualifier I ran into the first corner too fast and probably lost four tenths. The bike isn’t responding quite the way it did at the test, but we are going to work on that overnight.”

James Haydon was also pleased to have improved his best test time by 1.5 seconds and, on his qualifying tyre set the seventh best first split. He said: “It makes such a difference to have tested here already. I really like the bike through the fast-flowing first section but am struggling through the hairpins and slower corners. I seem to be following the bike rather than having it follow me. But we have made a few steps in the right direction. Hopefully I will be using one of the new spec engines tomorrow so I am confident I can make a lot more progress.”

Friday qualifying times, World Superbike championship round 12, Magny-Cours, France: 1 Walker 1:41.089; 2 Laconi 1:41.452; 3 Lavilla 1:41.523; 4 Toseland 1:41.723; 5 Chili 1:41.759; 6 Xaus 1:41.876; 7 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing); 1:42.089; 8 Martin 1:42.107; Hodgson 1:42.427; 10 Gimbert (SERT) 1:42.796; 16 Haydon (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:43.868