Spengler takes Hockenheim pole

Audi's Martin Tomczyk was less than one tenth of a second slower than the Canadian, while Paul di Resta was the star of the session as he took third place in a two-year-old car.

Spengler was the only driver of a 2007-specification Mercedes to make the top six, as Mika Hakkinen was the next best in seventh on the gird.

The other two cars struggled even more as reigning champion Bernd Schneider and qualifying specialist Jamie Green were knocked out in the second qualifying session.

Green may have had the pace to get through to the final session, but the British driver went off track at the Mercedes Arena on his final lap and lost four seconds.

All four of the 2007-spec Audis qualified in the top six on the grid, as Mattias Ekstrom, Tom Kristensen and Timo Scheider were very close to di Resta's time.

Daniel la Rosa had also got through to the final qualifying session for the top eight in his 2006-spec Mercedes, although he was unable to set a time due to a power steering problem.

Alexandre Premat was unable to turn his impressive free practice form into a good qualifying result, as the Frenchman had to have his front splitter replaced after an off on Saturday morning and he was not comfortable with the car in the afternoon.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver            Make      Time
 1.  Bruno Spengler    Mercedes  1:34.369
 2.  Martin Tomczyk    Audi      1:34.446  + 0.077
 3.  Paul Di Resta     Mercedes  1:34.449  + 0.080
 4.  Mattias Ekstrom   Audi      1:34.601  + 0.232
 5.  Tom Kristensen    Audi      1:34.681  + 0.312
 6.  Timo Scheider     Audi      1:34.686  + 0.317
 7.  Mika Hakkinen     Mercedes  1:34.774  + 0.405
 8.  Daniel La Rosa    Mercedes  -         -
 9.  Bernd Schneider   Mercedes  1:34.877  + 0.508
10.  A.Margaritis      Mercedes  1:34.895  + 0.526
11.  M.Rockenfeller    Audi      1:34.978  + 0.609
12.  Susie Stoddart    Mercedes  1:35.107  + 0.738
13.  Jamie Green       Mercedes  1:35.180  + 0.811
14.  Gary Paffett      Mercedes  1:35.369  + 1.000
15.  Christian Abt     Audi      1:35.407  + 1.038
16.  Mathias Lauda     Mercedes  1:35.411  + 1.042
17.  Adam Carroll      Audi      1:35.466  + 1.097
18.  Alexandre Premat  Audi      1:35.507  + 1.138
19.  Lucas Luhr        Audi      1:35.559  + 1.190
20.  Vanina Ickx       Audi      1:36.691  + 2.322