N'ring qualifying: Smokin' Jo smokes it!

Championship favourite Bernd Schneider held pole until the final five minutes of the session, but with virtually the whole field coming out for one last shot, the point-leader's timing was for once not perfect, and he slipped to third - still within striking distance of title outsider Reuter.

Uwe Alzen, favourite for the pole after the morning practice sessions, took a slightly perplexed fourth in his Opel, with Marcel Tiemann fifth and the second of the Mercs.

Laurent Aiello looked like taking a slot on the first two rows in the early going, but he was swamped by the late mass charge and had to settle for ninth - still a better than average effort for an Audi.

The British contingent didn't have the best of the session, with Peter Dumbreck slipping to 13th, Darren Turner 18th and James Thompson the tail-gunner of the field in 20th.

Tactics will now play a part in tomorrow's double-header if Reuter is to take the title fight to the wire, and Winkelhock and Alzen's role will doubtless be key. Even if Reuter wins both races, Schneider needs only to finish third twice to make Hockenheim's finale superfluous - it's probably safe to say that the two drivers he'd least like around him into the first corner would be Winkelhock and Alzen. Watch this space...


1 Jo Winkelhock, Opel, 1m36.332s
2 Manuel Reuter, Opel, 1m36.448s
3 Bernd Schneider, Mercedes, 1m36.544s
4 Uwe Alzen, Opel, 1m36.666s
5 Marcel Tiemann, Mercedes, 1m36.674s
6 Marcel Fassler, Opel, 1m36.712s
7 Christian Menzel, Opel, 1m36.916s
8 Michael Bartels, Opel, 1m37.018s
9 Laurent Aiello, Audi, 1m37.029s
10 Thomas Jager, Mercedes, 1m37.231s
11 Eric Helary, Opel, 1m37.256s
12 Pedro Lamy, Mercedes, 1m37.261s
13 Peter Dumbreck, Mercedes, 1m37.268s
14 Christian Abt, Audi, 1m37.282s
15 Stefano Modena, Opel, 1m37.297s
16 Timo Scheider, Opel, 1m37.384s
17 Klaus Ludwig, Mercedes, 1m37.571s
18 Darren Turner, Mercedes, 1m37.941s
19 Kris Nissen, Audi, 1m38.658s
20 James Thompson, Audi, 1m38.901s