Althea Ducati riders Davide Giugliano and Carlos Checa dominated the first qualifying session of the Superbike World Championship's maiden visit to the Moscow Raceway.
Checa had raised concerns about the low top-speed of his Ducati ahead of the weekend but it did not stop both drivers from occupying the top two spots after the first run.
Giugliano led the field with a lap of one minute 35.074 seconds with Checa 0.210 seconds adrift in second place.
The PATA Ducati of Sylvain Guintoli rounded out the top three with Marco Melandri fourth for BMW Motorrad.
Melandri currently sits second in the driver's championship standings, 10.5 points behind leader Max Biaggi, who finished the first qualifying session in 13th place on his Aprilia.
Britain's Jonathan Rea placed tenth, while Ireland's Eugene Laverty placed 17th.
