Saturday Second Free Practice - European GP

World Champion Michael Schumacher secured top spot in Saturday's final practice session before qualifying for the European Grand Prix as he prepared to fight for his first pole position in four races on home ground at the Nurburgring.

Ferrari driver Schumacher led his closest rival Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren-Mercedes, by more than half a second, with teammate Rubens Barrichello a further tenth of a second behind in third.

The Bridgestone-shod Ferrari team were joined by fourth-placed Sauber of Nick Heidfeld as the only Bridgestone runners in the top ten as the temperatures rose past the 20 degrees mark despite the cloudy skies around the Eifel mountains.

German Ralf Schumacher, in the leading Williams-BMW car, was fifth, one place ahead of Mika Salo's Toyota, who gave the new team a boost after some disappointing performances in recent races and left them hoping for a top ten place on the grid after qualifying.

Briton David Coulthard, who claimed himself the 'Friday World Champion' on the opening day of practice after topping the times, could not match his earlier form and finished seventh fastest, more than one second slower than the leading Ferrari.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was eighth in the second Williams-BMW, with the two Renaults of Italian Jarno Trulli and Briton Jenson Button, who had a brief off-track excursion, completing the top ten.

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa stopped out on track just three laps into the second session after his first had also been hit by problems with his Jaguar car, and he finished bottom of the timesheets.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:30.658 204.267 km/h 22 2. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:31.176 + 0.518 25 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:31.332 + 0.674 20 4. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:31.422 + 0.764 22 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:31.685 + 1.027 34 6. Salo Toyota (M) 1:31.803 + 1.145 32 7. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:31.811 + 1.153 24 8. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:31.833 + 1.175 37 9. Trulli Renault (M) 1:32.412 + 1.754 27 10. Button Renault (M) 1:32.698 + 2.040 26 11. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:32.715 + 2.057 22 12. McNish Toyota (M) 1:32.863 + 2.205 30 13. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:33.017 + 2.359 31 14. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:33.146 + 2.488 26 15. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:33.157 + 2.499 22 16. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:33.167 + 2.509 23 17. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:33.202 + 2.544 22 18. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:33.668 + 3.010 26 19. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:33.681 + 3.023 24 20. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:33.877 + 3.219 24 21. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:35.016 + 4.358 33 22. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:35.736 + 5.078 6 All Timing Unofficial