Lagrive Fastest: "I'm just doing my job" - Giabbani Second: "I am confident for the race" - Cudlin Third: "I feel like I've got a 1:29 in my bones"...

Provisional pole position for tomorrow's Oschersleben 24 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has been taken by Suzuki Castrol's Matthieu Lagrive with a time of 1:29.960. He beat his team mate Vincent Philippe - normally the star of world endurance qualifying - by just one hundredth of a second.

Second place went to Yamaha Austria's Gwen Giabbani, half a second behind Suzuki Castrol and just under a tenth of a second faster than third placed Damian Cudlin for Yamaha Phase One Endurance. Tomorrow's race looks set to be a battle between these three teams, with fourth in qualifying Kawasaki Bolliger fighting for fourth place in the race. Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se were fifth and JLC Ultimateam sixth. The latter bike is a Suzuki engined special with a radical hub-centre-steering front suspension system.

Shell Endurance Academy's Calvin Hogan was seventh, Yamaha Racing Team Hepel-mann eighth, Ducati Spring Team ninth and Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers Profi tenth. Only three of the top ten teams' first riders were fastest this morning, suggesting that the track may have warmed up over the course of the qualifying sessions.

Crashers so far have included Fagersjo-el.se's Paul Young during first qualifying, Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team who have had to source a new frame from a local dealer, and Suzuki No Limits & RT who returned from the first night practice session on the back of the recovery truck.

Qualifying Quotes

Matthieu Lagrive, Suzuki Castrol, first place: "I'm very happy; I'm doing this for the team and for the championship. I'm just doing my job; I came here for a ride and… For sure I wanted to go faster; it's very hard here because there is a lot of traffic and I lost time on a lot of laps. I wanted to do a 1:28. The bike is okay for the race, Vincent and Keiichi are okay, we will ride easy for the finish."

Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria, second place: "Qualifying was okay. I aimed for a better result, to be closer to Suzuki Castrol, but second place on the grid is not so bad; I'm happy with that. I am confident for the race because I know the team is good in the pits, for refuelling and everything, and my team mates and I are all doing the same lap times."

Damian Culdin, Yamaha Phase One Endurance, third place: "Qualifying went to plan, really. I struggled a lot with the set-up of the bike when I first turned up here; it's different to what it's been all year and I wasn't here for the testing. We tried something last night in the night practice session, and I found some more speed today. I managed to do the team's quickest lap of the weekend; I actually feel like I've got a 1:29 in my bones, but when I was on a good lap I had to pass people."

Provisional Qualifying - Top Ten