After topping the timesheets in Free Practice, Swan Yamaha would have been forgiven for being disappointed after missing out on pole position for the first British Superbike race of 2011.
Shane 'Shakey' Byrne broke the Brands Hatch Indy lap record on his way to pole, with Ryuichi Kiyonari closely following his teammate in second.
Michael Laverty claimed third while yesterday's pacesetter, Tommy Hill, had to make do with fourth, 0.212 behind Byrne.
But despite losing out to the HM Plant Honda pair, Hill is feeling positive about his prospects in Monday's races and is aiming to finish on the podium.
“We have been good in every session and just building all the time”, he said. “I knew I had something in reserve which I wanted to save until qualifying but we had a slight problem with grip. We are going to make a few minor tweaks tomorrow but I am feeling good and we want to challenge for podiums and give my home fans something to cheer about.”
Laverty was equally bullish about the team's chances tomorrow, and expects the Yamaha YZF-R1 to be stronger in race conditions than it had been in qualifying.
“I am pretty happy after qualifying today as I have never been a one lap wonder in qualifying, so a front row start was what we needed and that's what we achieved. We have a good pace for tomorrow races and I know that we can challenge at the front. It would be great to be on the podium for the Swan Yamaha team at the first round of the season.”
The 2011 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship will start at 13:00 on Monday afternoon with race one of the day, race two will follow at 16:30.
