Frentzen snatches last-minute pole

A superb last-minute lap on a drying track secured the German's second ever pole ahead of the two McLarens.

Virtually everyone visited the top five at some point during a messy session which started very wet and gradually became almost totally dry.

The key to qualifying well was to get a fast lap in at the very end of the hour, and several big names failed to do so.

Behind Frentzen, Coulthard and Hakkinen, Ralf Schumacher again shone to take fourth place. Olivier Panis did his future prospects a lot of good by qualifying fifth, ahead of the similarly inspired Giancarlo Fisichella, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

Those who lost out included Magny-Cours qualifying heroes Rubens Barrichello and Jean Alesi, and Williams' Alex Zanardi. Eddie Irvine was lucky to grab ninth, three places ahead of his team-mate Mika Salo.

Both had held pole during the session, as had Barrichello, Hill, Hakkinen, Coulthard, Schumacher, Fisichella and Trulli. But in the end it was Frentzen, despite gearbox and engine problems robbing him of virtually all his practice mileage, who shone again and took his first pole for Jordan.

Qualifying positions from the Nurburgring: