Slick Albers on Lausitz pole

Heavy rain just 50-minutes ahead of the pre-qualifying session sent the teams into a tailspin. Christijan Albers bounced back from an early spin to set the pace on the rain-soaked track, ahead of Jean Alesi (Mercedes), Mattias Ekstrom (Audi) and Peter Dumbreck (Opel).

Two drivers, Bernd Schneider and Laurent Aiello, had their fastest times disallowed for not slowing for yellow flags after Marcel Fassler spun his Opel into a gravel trap. Ironically, Aiello dropped out of the following top 10 Super Pole session as a result, allowing team-mate Fassler in...

With the track drying fast, the gamble of going for slicks was always going to be a risky one. Ekstrom, the third-to-last driver to go, was the first to opt for slick rubber - but only because he thought the previous runner, Dumbreck, had done so!

Mattias was so concerned about the lack of grip on his out lap that he actually weaved down the back straight on his flying lap. Despite this, his time was six-seconds quicker, but Alesi, next to go, was sent out on wets - although he would have preferred slicks. His time was 4secs off pole, so perhaps Mercedes might listen to him next time...

With time to switch Albers' car to slicks, Christijan was on the right tyres with the best of the conditions. Although he was a tenth down at the first split, he clawed half a second back in sector two and, despite a big slide in the final corners, lapped 0.485s quicker than Ekstrom.

"Most of the track was dry," said Albers. "The last part was quite wet, and I lost time, but it was okay. We saw Mattias do his time on slicks, so we did it also."

Ekstrom said: "I was the first car to take slicks, and on the out lap it felt like the car had no grip. I decided to weave on the straight and sacrifice a few tenths, so I'm satisfied with the result."

Alesi will start third ahead of top Opel Dumbreck, Schneider, Timo Scheider (Opel), Gary Paffett (who went off briefly in his Mercedes), Manuel Reuter, Fassler and Audi's Christian Abt.

Christijan Albers, Mercedes C-Class, 1m45.026s
Mattias Ekstrom, Audi A4, 1m45.511s
Jean Alesi, Mercedes C-Class, 1m49.417s
Peter Dumbreck, Opel Vectra GTS, 1m51.690s
Bernd Schneider, Mercedes C-Class, 1m51.998s
Timo Scheider, Opel Vectra GTS, 1m53.980s
Gary Paffett, Mercedes C-Class, 1m55.385s
Manuel Reuter, Opel Vectra GTS, 1m56.149s
Marcel Fassler, Opel Vectra GTS, 1m57.274s
Christian Abt, Audi A4, 1m59.893s