Max Biaggi shrugged off a massive crash in the second qualifying session to secure his second pole position of the year. His only other pole came in Monza where he went on to secure the double win, which is an ominous sign for his rivals. Although he set pole, he hasn’t been dominant - instead producing one of his trademark weekends of constantly improving and working towards the two races tomorrow.

“I’m very surprised, to go from sliding along the tarmac to pole is good,” Biaggi said. “I have some pain in my left hand and arm from trying to hold onto the bike in the crash and my back is sore, but apart from that I am OK. We have worked hard on the set-up of the bike and it is better, but it still isn’t really planted compared to the Ducati’s, which looks to be working well here. As a team we’ve worked to improve the bike and if we squeeze everything out of the package we are happy.”

One man that Biaggi will have to stop is Carlos Checa. During the 2010 season, Checa has been a sensation and has shown stunning pace onboard his privateer Althea Ducati, and Nurburgring was no exception.

“We’ve been working well and we’ve got the Ducati to a good level,” Checa said. “I believe this bike has good potential and today we showed once again that the Ducati is still competitive. The team is following me very well and it can be better with more work and more time.”

James Toseland secured his first front row start since the Kyalami round in May only to have it taken away and relegated to eighth - a penalty for leaving the pits too early and ignoring the red light. Toseland was understandably fuming at the decision, having gained no tangible advantage, but the double WSB champion can take some comfort in the knowledge that he is so far the fastest man of the weekend on a race tire thanks to his 1m 54.909 lap set in the final Superpole session.

Alstare Suzuki had reason to celebrate after Sylvan Guintoli secured his first ever WSB front row start. Riding at the German track for the first time Guintoli looked strong throughout every sector and outpaced his teammate Leon Haslam in the process. Haslam continued to struggle with the new generation Pirelli tires brought to the Nurburgring, but still managed to secure fifth on the grid.

The big winner from Toseland’s relegation to the second row was fifth-placed qualifier Jonathan Rea, who was promoted to a front row start.

Noriyuki Haga was one man that found the new tires to his liking and is well placed for tomorrow’s races after qualifying in sixth and on the second row of the grid. Kawasaki man Tom Sykes pulled out all the stops to take a surprise second row onboard the ageing ZX-10R. Another surprise was the fact that Troy Corser suffered three crashes in the space of less than an hour, leaving him down in 14th on the grid. The 38-year-old Australian had two near identical crashes under heavy braking for Turn 1. The first crash happened in Free Practice, with the second on his first flying lap of Superpole 1. The BMW man was able to get back out on track and qualify for Superpole 2, where he suffered a big high side on his out lap which prevented him from progressing any further.

Cal Crutchlow has an unrivalled record of qualifying this year with a total of five poles to his credit, but it all went wrong in Germany. For only the second time this season Crutchlow will not line up on the front row of the grid, and instead he’ll be on the third row in tenth position. But he’s shown good race pace which should make it possible to challenge at the front and make overtakes on the wide track.