Michael Schumacher scorched to pole position today in front of his home fans at Hockenheim to put Ferrari within touching distance of the world championship.
Schumacher will begin tomorrow's German Grand Prix from the front after overcoming a poor starting position to record a lap of one minute, 13.306 seconds and claim the 61st pole of his career.
Schumacher is now just four pole positions short of Ayrton Senna's record but has more immediate aims with Ferrari able to clinch the constructors' championship tomorrow if they score 13 more points than Renault.
Jenson Button recorded an impressive lap to take third in the standings, 0.368secs slower than Schumacher. But the BAR driver must start down in 13th after incurring a 10-place penalty with an engine change yesterday.
Juan Pablo Montoya was Schumacher's closest challenger but even the Williams driver could not get close and ended the session 0.362secs down.
Kimi Raikkonen will start from third - benefiting from Button's penalty - while McLaren team-mate David Coulthard will line up alongside on the second row after setting the fifth fastest time today.
Williams stand-in Antonio Pizzonia could not repeat his stunning pre-qualifying form and will make his debut for the team from 10th on the grid.
Rubens Barrichello was the first of the serious contenders to hit the track and, just as in pre-qualifying, the Brazilian did not sparkle. He went quickest, but only by 0.009secs from BAR's Takuma Sato.
Schumacher made a better job of it a few minutes later when he wiped almost a second off his Ferrari team-mate's time with his best lap of the weekend.
Raikkonen looked set to depose Schumacher after going quicker in the first sector of the lap but he could not maintain that speed and ended up well down on the world champion.
Jarno Trulli also enjoyed a fast start to his lap but Schumacher remained on top, with his pace through the twisty stadium section proving crucial.
Coulthard had a genuine chance to take his first pole since 2001 after outpacing Schumacher through the first two sectors of the 4.574-kilometre track but he too floundered late on and ended up behind Raikkonen.
Schumacher's superiority through the stadium section allowed him to withstand determined challenges from Fernando Alonso, Button and Montoya.
PA