NURBURGRING, 30 May 2004 — German world champion Michael Schumacher claimed his fourth pole position of the season on home ground here yesterday when he finished fastest in qualifying for the European Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver, who was finally defeated in Monaco last weekend after dominating the opening five races, had failed to top any of the sessions here but pulled out his best form to claim pole.
His lap of 1min 28.351sec put him 0.635 seconds clear of BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato, who claimed the best ever qualifying position for a Japanese driver after running last in the session having topped the first qualifying.
Italian Jarno Trulli, who won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position last weekend and is still the only man to beat Schumacher this year, finished third, 0.784 secs behind the German. Finn Kimi Raikkonen claimed fourth place for McLaren, here on the home ground of their German engine suppliers Mercedes, but his teammate David Coulthard will start from the opposite end of the grid after failing to set a time. Briton Jenson Button went slightly wide during his run and he could manage only fifth fastest time with Fernando Alonso, in the second Renault, down in sixth. Rubens Barrichello will start from seventh in the second Ferrari, with Williams pair Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher eighth and ninth respectively and Frenchman Olivier Panis tenth for Toyota.
Australian Mark Webber will start from 14th place after having one second added to his 1:30.797 second qualifying time as punishment for failing to slow down under waved yellow flags in practice on Friday. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who was due to drop ten places on the grid after changing his engine on Friday, failed to leave the pits for his flying lap and did not set a time. Scot Coulthard suffered a disaster and was left in the garage for his run when McLaren failed to repair his car after it had stopped out on the track in the first qualifying session.
