Qualifying: Coronel's surprise pole

Only these two were ever in genuine contention for pole position in overcast and windy conditions, although former BTCC champion Rickard Rydell briefly held pole ahead of Coronel before sliding down the order to finish fifth.

Schnitzer BMW's brace of Mullers - Dirk and Jorg, the former having broken Alfa Romeo ETCC stranglehold at the last round at Anderstorp in Sweden - were widely expected to set the pace, but were eclipsed by the less vaunted BMW teams and were reduced to fighting for the second row.

BMW's new found pace is a consequence of the rule changes introduced to the ETCC. Furthermore, the introduction of success ballast meant that Nordauto drivers Fabrizio Giovanardi and Nicola Larini, who have between them won all but one of this season's races, were doubly disadvantaged and languished in the unfamiliar territory of the fourth row.

Coronel believes that the nature of the Oschersleben circuit was always going to play into the hands of BMW. "This is a BMW circuit, and the 180° corners are favourable to us, as we can play with the throttle," he said. "As for the rule changes, we have 30 kg less, meaning a difference of about three tenths, and 500 rpm, which does not make any difference to the speed in qualifying, but means we can fight more in the race."

Championship leader Giovanardi accepted that the rule changes were not in their favour, but recognised that he and Nordauto had not got the best out of the Alfa. "It's perfectly clear that we have not been able to adapt our car to the new rules or to the track," he said. "On one hand BMW definitely benefited from the rule changes in terms of weight and engine speed, but on the other hand I don't want to cry and to put all the blame on this. We have to cope with these new regulations, working on the car to identify and solve the problems we had today

British drivers James Hanson (Volvo S60) and Tom Ferrier (Alfa Romeo 156) will start Sunday's first race from ninth and 11th respectively.

The grid for the second race will be based on the finishing order from race one, with the top six on the grid reversed.



Tom Coronel (BMW 320I E46), 1m34.0s (87.29mph)
Fredrik Ekblom (BMW 320I E46), 1m34.1s
Dirk Muller (BMW 320I E46), 1m34.1s
Jorg Muller (BMW 320I E46), 1m34.2s
Rickard Rydell (Volvo S60), 1m34.a
Jordi Gene (BMW 320I E46), 1m34.8s
Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo 156 GTA), 1m24.8s
Nicola Larini (Alfa Romeo 156 GTA), 1m35.0s
James Hanson (Volvo S60), 1m35.1s
Fabrizio de Simone (BMW 320I E46), 1m35.1s

Tom Ferrier (Alfa Romeo 156 GTA), 1m35.2s