HOCKENHEIM, Germany, July 27 (UPI) -- Michael Schumacher edged younger brother Ralf in a hard-fought qualifying session Saturday for the Formula One German Grand Prix at Hockenheimring.
A five-time world champion, Michael Schumacher, who clinched the 2002 Formula One championship last week in France with six grand prixs remaining, averaged 204.450 miles per hour in one minute 14.389 seconds in his Ferrari and was less than two-tenths of a second faster than the Williams BMW driven by Ralf at the reconfigured 2.8-mile track.
"It was my dream to have a pole position here in Hockenheim, and hopefully a win," said Michael Schumacher, whose only win at Hockenheim was in 1995. "We got it together just in the end.It took some time to get the lap time, and in the end we did it."
Michael Schumacher is tied with Juan Manuel Fangio for the most F1 titles.
Defending German Grand Prix champion Ralf Schumacher set the pace early in the one-hour session. Once the Ferrari racers came out, Michael Schumacher and partner Rubens Barrichello of Brazil posted the best times to claim the 1-2 positions.
Ralf Schumacher split the Ferrari duo before Barrichello held the provisional pole with less than 20 minutes to run in the session. Michael Schumacher went off the track and aborted his second run and Ralf Schumacher slotted into the top position with a fast lap which left Barrichello second.
But Michael Schumacher came back and pushed his way around the shortened track with minutes to go and topped the charts for his fourth pole of the year and 47th career.
Barrichello settled for the third position.
Juan Montoya of Colombia, who started from the pole in the previous five races, qualified fourth Saturday in the second Williams BMW. Kimi Raikkonen of Finland was fifth in a McLaren Mercedes after losing some time in the last sector of the reconfigured track. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella provided the surprise result on the grid on the outside of row 3 in a Jordan Honda.
David Coulthard of Scotland could do no better than ninth in the second McLaren Mercedes.
