Qualifying: Enge hangs on to pole
Nordic's Tomas Enge will start Saturday's sixth round of the FIA Formula 3000 Championship from pole position after a frantic fight for the top spot at the Nurburgring with Mark Webber and Ricardo Sperafico
After setting the fastest time in the opening session, Enge dropped as low as third before a last-gasp effort hauled him back to the front of the grid. Sperafico (Petrobras) was the first to leapfrog to the top of the times, followed soon after by Webber.
"The car was fantastic in both sessions," gushed Enge, who took his second-ever category pole in Germany.
Australian Webber had a scare in the first session when he broke the radiator of his Super Nova machine over the vicious kerbs at the Veedol-S. He will start from second on the grid, ahead of Sperafico and David Saelens.
"I'm happy with the recovery we made," said Webber. "I under performed in the first session, and I just got more out of the car in the second. I would've liked pole, mainly because it is on the cleaner side of the track."
Fourth placed Saelens' European Minardi team traced the cause of its problems so far this year to a peculiar problem that led to the brake pressure being applied when on full throttle. Free of this strange glitch, the Belgian clawed his way into the top four.
Darren Manning dropped to sixth quickest after he broke a ball joint in his rear suspension in the first half of qualifying by riding over the kerbs at the Veedol-S. Antonio Pizzonia bombed to eighth due to his first session crash.
Series leader Justin Wilson will start from seventh on the grid as he bids to defend his 11-point lead.
For the full qualifying results click here.
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