Super-Pole: Ekstrom lights it up

The track was lit by 66 illuminated balloons, but drivers still noted it was hard to discern between the kerb and grass in places on the Nurburgring's Sprint course. Ekstrom will start from his first pole position of the year, ahead of Audi team-mate Laurent Aiello and AMG Mercedes ace Christijan Albers.

The Super Pole session was delayed by over 20 minutes when screws were thrown on to the track by rogue elements of the crowd.

When it finally got underway, Albers was the first to throw down the gauntlet with a 1m25.328s. But the Audi duo of Ekstrom and Aiello topped his effort to lock-out the front row of the grid. Martin Tomczyk (Audi) and Peter Dumbreck (Opel) were next up, but series leader Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) could only manage seventh position after locking up at the hairpin.

The short, sharp single-lap qualifying was the perfect prelude to a controversial WBC World Championship boxing match at the track which was won by local hero Markus Beyer after challenger Danny Green of Australia was disqualified for a head-butt that split Beyer's eyebrow. The impetuous Aussie had twice floored the German earlier in an explosive bout.


Mattias Ekstrom (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m25.095s
Laurent Aiello (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m25.194s
Christijan Albers (NL) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m25.328s
Martin Tomczyk (D) Abt-Audi TT-R, 1m25.335s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Phoenix Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m25.340s
Bernd Schneider (D) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m25.382s
Alain Menu (CH) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m25.589s
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m25.757s
Manuel Reuter (D) Holzer Opel Astra V8 Coupé, 1m25.860s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 1m26.019s

PS: Still no sign of Right Said Fred for Sunday's concert, but here's hoping...