Ekstrom gets last gasp Zandvoort pole

The reigning champion was the last man to complete his final flying lap, and his effort was enough to take the top spot by two tenths of a second from last year's pole-sitter Scheider.

"My car felt really good for the whole session, it suited me perfectly," said Ekstrom. "I made a mistake on my first run, then I got it spot on next time, so I'm happy it worked out."

Championship leader Scheider seemed to have locked himself into a second consecutive pole position just moments before Ekstrom came through, as the German's best lap had put him three tenths ahead of Tom Kristensen, who will line-up third.

"My car was good, but my lap was not quite perfect, and Mattias' lap was," said Scheider, who has taken pole here twice before. "I've not won the race when I start from pole here, so maybe the key is to not be on pole."

Jamie Green was the top Mercedes driver in fourth place, but the winner last time out at Norisring was six tenths slower than Ekstrom.

Bruno Spengler and Martin Tomczyk will share the third row of the grid ahead of Paul di Resta, while Oliver Jarvis was the only driver of a 2007 car to get through to the final segment of qualifying, and he will start eighth.

Behind Markus Winkelhock in ninth, Mike Rockenfeller made the top 10 despite losing the bodywork at the right rear of his car, while Alexandre Premat pushed former champion Bernd Schneider down to 12th.

Home driver Christijan Albers made it through to the second qualifying session in his two-year-old Audi, but the Dutch driver did not set a lap in the second segment, so he will start 14th, while Ralf Schumacher had a difficult session and will line up last.

Pos Driver              Car          Time         Gap
 1. Mattias Ekstrom     Audi         1:31.012
 2. Timo Scheider       Audi         1:31.231  +0.219
 3. Tom Kristensen      Audi         1:31.563  +0.551
 4. Jamie Green         Mercedes     1:31.600  +0.588
 5. Bruno Spengler      Mercedes     1:31.709  +0.697
 6. Martin Tomczyk      Audi         1:31.731  +0.719
 7. Paul di Resta       Mercedes     1:31.815  +0.803
 8. Oliver Jarvis       Audi         1:32.037  +1.025
 9. Markus Winkelhock   Audi         1:32.319  +1.307
10. Mike Rockenfeller   Audi         1:32.642  +1.630
11. Alexandre Premat    Audi         1:32.705  +1.693
12. Bernd Schneider     Mercedes     1:32.808  +1.796
13. Gary Paffett        Mercedes     1:33.165  +2.153
14. Christijan Albers   Audi         1:33.231  +2.219
15. Mathias Lauda       Mercedes     1:33.644  +2.632
16. Katherine Legge     Audi         1:33.681  +2.669
17. Maro Engel          Mercedes     1:33.691  +2.679
18. Susie Stoddart      Mercedes     1:33.873  +2.861
19. Ralf Schumacher     Mercedes     1:33.980  +2.968