Troy Corser edged out fellow Australian Troy Bayliss to take provisional pole position for the second round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island.
Corser lapped the Victoria circuit in a best time of one minute 32.336 seconds on his Yamaha Italia YZF-R1, just ahead of series leader Bayliss.
Bayliss, who is still nursing the effects of a broken collarbone sustained in a crash at Phillip Island in testing in January, clocked a best time of 1min 32.374secs on his Xerox Ducati 1098 to delight home fans with an Australian top two.
Corser, who took pole at the series opener in Losail, Qatar, last weekend said: "The track is a bit bumpier each time we go out, even compared to the winter tests we did here.
"I'm happy enough with that time, but we've still got work to do on the settings for race day. It's only Friday, but I'm pretty happy with the performance on this first day."
Bayliss admitted he struggled for grip on the undulating circuit but felt he was in a strong position to take pole in Saturday morning's superpole session.
He said: "Maybe because of the rain yesterday, there's still not fantastic grip on the track, but we tried a few different things to deal with it.
"We only made a few small changes between the free practice and the afternoon qualifying and things are going well, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow and superpole."
Reigning champion James Toseland's move to MotoGP, where he starts his challenge in Qatar on March 9, has left the series without any British involvement for the first time.
But in the supporting World Supersport series 20-year-old Jonathan Rea was seventh fastest on his HANNspree Ten Kate Honda despite riding with a badly injured hand.
Rea crashed out in Qatar and severed a tendon in his finger but still managed a respectable time of 1:36.392.
He said: "The first session's conditions weren't very nice, after the early morning rain we went out on a wet tyre on a medium dry track.
"Early on in the second session I experienced some problems with the machine, which we managed to sort out throughout the session.
"Irrespective of that, the lap times are there or thereabouts and I am feeling quite confident on the bike despite my hand injury so that shouldn't hold me back.
"I'm just looking forward to finding a good set-up tomorrow and achieve a front-row qualifying for raceday."
Leading positions after first qualifying: 1 Troy Corser (Aus) Yamaha 1min 32.336secs, 2 Troy Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 1:32.374, 3 Michel Fabrizio (Ita) Ducati 1:32.570, 4 Max Neukirchner (Ger) Suzuki 1:32.808, 5 Jakub Smrz (Cze) Ducati 1:32.827, 6 Max Biaggi (Ita) Ducati 1:32.827, 7 Ruben Xaus (Spa) Ducati 1:32.827, 8 Regis Laconi (Fra) Kawasaki 1:33.188, 9 Fonsi Nieto (Spa) Suzuki 1:33.269, 10 Carlos Checa (Spa) Honda 1:33.283, 11 Russell Holland (Aus) Honda 1:33.340, 12 Karl Muggeridge (Aus) Honda 1:33.489, 13 Noriyuki Haga (Jpn) Yamaha 1:33.588, 14 Gregorio Lavilla (Spa) Honda 1:33.718, 15 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Jpn) Honda 1:33.995
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