Qualifying: Schneider steals the show

Before the Super Pole, the 25-minute qualifying session that decided who went through to the top 10 shoot-out was dominated by Audi for the first time this year. Ekstrom just beat Tomczyk to the top spot, but the AMG Mercedes trio of Marcel Fassler, Christijan Albers and Bernd Schneider were just behind. The fastest Opel was Peter Dumbreck in sixth, while Jean Alesi (Mercedes), Laurent Aiello (Audi), Christian Abt (Audi) and Alain Menu (Opel) made it through to the second phase that would decide the top 10 spots.

Schneider delivered when it mattered, however. He produced a 1m28.206s despite a massive lock-up at Goddards, over a tenth clear of Alesi's second fastest time. Ekstrom was third fastest, but would rue a slow start to his lap, while Aiello jumped up the order to start a solid fourth.

"The lap was pretty good," said Schneider. "I made a little mistake at the chicane, and the final corner, but it's always good to be at the front. After the lap he did this morning, I did not expect to beat Ekstrom."

Alesi said: "It's a good feeling to start on the front row again. I won the race from second position on the grid last year, so hopefully it will happen again. We made some changes before the one-lap run and it worked really well, so I have to thank the team."

Fassler and Albers will start fifth and sixth, but both were disappointed not to get ahead of the Audi duo. Dumbreck was again top Opel, but reckoned a top five would have been on the cards if he had found a perfect lap. Menu, Abt and Tomczyk rounded out to top 10, as the latter slid off the track at Redgate and blew all his hard work from earlier.

Gary Paffett won the war of the year-old Mercedes and will start 12th, ahead of main rival Thomas Jager. Despite his pace yesterday, Manuel Reuter could only manage the 14th fastest time in his Opel, just ahead of colleague Joachim Winkelhock.


Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.206s
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.396s
Mattias Ekstrom (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m28.418s
Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m28.528s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.581s
Christijan Albers (NL) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m28.717s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m28.751s
Alain Menu (CH) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m29.168s
Christian Abt (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m29.674s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m30.341s