Muller ends Maserati pole drought

Muller claimed the top spot around the 2.3-mile German track with a 1m24.546s lap, just over three tenths clear of Karl Wendlinger aboard the K plus K Saleen S7R.

It was the first time a Maserati had claimed a genuine pole since the Nogaro FIA GT round at the end of 2007, although Andrea Bertolini had inherited pole at Adria last month after Wendlinger's exclusion for a technical infringement.

Muller, who shares the #2 Vitaphone MC12 with Miguel Ramos, said: "I got the maximum out of the car and am happy to have taken pole at the home race for me and the team. There's still a lot of work to do on the race set-up, but I'm confident."

Wendlinger , who partners Ryan Sharp, was surprised not to have gone faster during the 15-minute session.

"I expected to be quicker, but maybe the rain before the session changed the grip level," he said. "For the first time this weekend we had a bit of understeer."

GT2 honours went to Porsche factory driver Jorg Bergmeister, who is making his first appearance in FIA GTs since 2004. The late stand-in at the British Trackspeed squad qualified his 2008-spec Porsche 911 GT3-RSR two tenths clear of Martin Ragginger in Brixia Racing's similar 911.

Pos  Cl   Qual Driver         Car              Time       Gap
 1.  GT1  Alex Muller         Maserati MC 12   1m24.546s
 2.  GT1  Karl Wendlinger     Saleen S7        1m24.865s  + 0.319s
 3.  GT1  Xavier Maassen      Corvette Z06     1m25.160s  + 0.614s
 4.  GT1  Michael Bartels     Maserati MC 12   1m25.278s  + 0.732s
 5.  GT1  Adam Lacko          Saleen S7        1m25.291s  + 0.745s
 6.  GT1  Bert Longin         Corvette Z06     1m25.560s  + 1.014s
 7.  GT1  Mike Hezemans       Corvette Z06     1m25.702s  + 1.156s
 8.  GT1  Bas Leinders        Ford GT          1m26.634s  + 2.088s
 9.  GT1  Luke Hines          Saleen S7        1m26.941s  + 2.395s
10.  GT1  Michael Krumm       Nissan GT-R      1m27.431s  + 2.885s
11.  GT2  Jorg Bergmeister    Porsche 911 GT3  1m28.606s  + 4.060s
12.  GT2  Martin Ragginger    Porsche 911 GT3  1m28.803s  + 4.257s
13.  GT2  Gianmaria Bruni     Ferrari F430     1m28.953s  + 4.407s
14.  GT2  Marco Holzer        Porsche 911 GT3  1m29.108s  + 4.562s
15.  GT2  Andrew Kirkaldy     Ferrari F430     1m29.346s  + 4.800s
16.  GT2  Paolo Ruberti       Ferrari F430     1m29.534s  + 4.988s
17.  GT2  Tim Mullen          Ferrari F430     1m29.553s  + 5.007s
18.  GT2  Alvaro Barba Lopez  Ferrari F430     1m29.799s  + 5.253s
19.  GT2  Mathias Russo       Ferrari F430     1m29.836s  + 5.290s
20.  GT2  Stefan Mucke        Aston Martin V8  1m29.916s  + 5.370s
21.  GT2  Emmanuel Collard    Porsche 911 GT3  1m30.102s  + 5.556s
22.  GT2  Kenneth Heyer       Ferrari F430     1m31.536s  + 6.990s