Ekstrom takes Audi's first 2007 pole

The 2004 champion moved to the top of the timesheets with his final lap at the end of the session, while the rest of the top five places were also filled by Audis.

Tom Kristensen moved on to the front row alongside Ekstrom in the dying seconds of qualifying, while Martin Tomczyk was bumped down to third after being on pole for much of the final session.

Timo Scheider made sure that the 2007-specification Audis locked out the front two rows of the grid, while Alexandre Premat made the top five in his one-year-old car.

Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green were the only Mercedes drivers to make it through to the final segment of qualifying, and the pair will start sixth and seventh on the grid respectively.

Audi appear to have benefited from a test they had at the Italian circuit in April, and this is also the first race since Hockenheim where the 2007-spec A4s have been lighter than the new Mercedes cars.

The problems for Mercedes were highlighted by the performance of championship leader Bernd Schneider who could only manage 11th on the grid, while Mika Hakkinen had a disastrous session.

The Finn has started on the front row of the grid for the past four races, but he was eliminated in the first segment of qualifying, and he will start 15th.

Pos  Driver            Car       Time
 1.  Mattias Ekstrom   Audi      1:43.851
 2.  Tom Kristensen    Audi      1:44.065  + 0.214
 3.  Martin Tomczyk    Audi      1:44.080  + 0.229
 4.  Timo Scheider     Audi      1:44.118  + 0.267
 5.  Alexandre Premat  Audi      1:44.514  + 0.663
 6.  Bruno Spengler    Mercedes  1:44.696  + 0.845
 7.  Jamie Green       Mercedes  1:44.774  + 0.923
 8.  M.Rockenfeller    Audi      1:44.845  + 0.994
 9.  Christian Abt     Audi      1:45.174  + 1.323
10.  Daniel La Rosa    Mercedes  1:45.178  + 1.327
11.  Bernd Schneider   Mercedes  1:45.312  + 1.461
12.  Paul Di Resta     Mercedes  1:45.354  + 1.503
13.  M.Winkelhock      Audi      1:45.758  + 1.907
14.  Lucas Luhr        Audi      -
15.  Mika Hakkinen     Mercedes  1:45.578  + 1.727
16.  Gary Paffett      Mercedes  1:45.683  + 1.832
17.  Mathias Lauda     Mercedes  1:45.934  + 2.083
18.  Susie Stoddart    Mercedes  1:46.352  + 2.501
19.  A.Margaritis      Mercedes  1:46.485  + 2.634
20.  Vanina Ickx       Audi      1:47.589  + 3.738