There are four drivers fighting within two points of one another for the Championship and this afternoon, two of them had an excellent day, claiming places on the front row, while the other two were less successful and find themselves in close company in sixth and seventh places. Felipe Massa is the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro man on the front row, in second place for tomorrow's tenth round of the World Championship, the German Grand Prix, while the other F2008 of Kimi Raikkonen is two rows further back in sixth place, just ahead of the BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica. The Finn has struggled all weekend to get his car balanced to his liking, as track conditions have been significantly different to those experienced when he drove here in last week's test. For the third time this season, Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position in his McLaren-Mercedes. His team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen starts behind him in third, with the Toyota of Jarno Trulli alongside him. Fernando Alonso in the Renault is fifth.

Lewis Hamilton MP4-23 06
Heikki Kovalainen MP4-23 05

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's Santander German Grand Prix, the team's second consecutive home Grand Prix, from pole position after Silverstone two weeks ago. It is also the team’s second pole position in a row and the fourth this year. In the closing seconds of the final session, Lewis set a time of 1m15.666 and claimed his ninth pole position in his 27th Formula 1 race. It is the 58th for the McLaren Mercedes partnership and McLaren’s 137th. Silverstone pole-sitter Heikki Kovalainen qualified third fastest with a 1m16.143 and will start from the second row, right behind his team mate.

GERMAN RACE FAN KIT
(PART TWO - THE AIR HORN)
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CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal:
"A solid qualifying performance from both drivers to start 8th and 10th. We're reasonably placed for tomorrow's race and hopefully we'll get two cars to the finish in point scoring positions."

Today’s qualifying outcome has set the AT&T Williams team a tough challenge for tomorrow’s German GP at Hockenheim. Nico Rosberg progressed to Q2 and will line up for tomorrow’s race in P13, while Kazuki Nakajima just failed to make the cut in an extremely tight Q1 and consequently will start tomorrow in sixteenth place. In eighteen starts so far this year, the drivers have bettered their qualifying position on eleven occasions and there will be a clear ambition to achieve this in tomorrow’s race and hunt for valuable points in the process.

Qualifying session

F. Massa: 2nd 1.15.859 6 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 6° 1.16.389 6laps chassis 270
Weather: air temperature 24 °C, track temperature 27/29 °C, partially cloudy.

Qualifying for the German Grand Prix brought mixed fortunes for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Felipe Massa set the second quickest time in the third and decisive session, while Kimi Raikkonen, took sixth place. "On the one hand, we are satisfied with Felipe's position as he produced a good qualifying performance, while we cannot feel the same about Kimi, who never managed to find the right balance on his car," commented Team Principal of the Gestione Sportiva, Stefano Domenicali. "It's true that to analyse this afternoon's result objectively one would need to know how much fuel the others have on board, but clearly, starting from the third row won't make life easy for Kimi. We can count on having a good race pace with both types of tyre and will have to work with scrupulous attention over the next few hours to prepare for a race that looks like being a very tough one. I am sure both our drivers will give it their best shot and have a great race"

Today's Weather: Sunny, air temperature 24-25°C, track temperature 29-35°C
Best 2008 grid position: 3rd, Jarno Trulli (Malaysia)
Best 2008 race result: 3rd, Jarno Trulli (France)

Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis
"We are very happy with this result, which is in line with a very good test session we had here last week. We were busy in preparation for qualifying because the grip conditions changed massively compared to the test and we had to adjust our set-ups to reflect this. We were a little bit cautious before qualifying because of the disappointment we felt at Silverstone when we were not where we expected despite a very strong test. This time we got it right and thanks to a great lap from Jarno we are in a very good shape for tomorrow's race. Unfortunately Timo missed out on the top 10 when there was no doubt he had the potential to be there. He just lost a little time on the second sector of his last lap but at least he can decide his fuel strategy for tomorrow's race and that will help, especially if there is a risk of rain."

There will be plenty for race fans to enjoy during race week and race weekend of the FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals. From pre-event parties to an ice cream social, there is sure to be something for everyone, including several tributes to the late Eric Medlen. The race weekend is set for July 25-27 at Infineon Raceway.

Valentino Rossi made a good start to his US Grand Prix weekend today, finishing the day third fastest in the overall standings at Laguna Seca. His best time of 1'22.679 was set this morning and is just over a tenth of a second off last year's lap record

Toyota Motorsport GmbH will have a new official clothing supplier from 2009 after agreeing an exciting new partnership agreement with fashion and board sports brand Chiemsee.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd is delighted to announce that it has signed a new two-year agreement with Valentino Rossi. The seven-time world champion will continue to race with the Yamaha Factory Racing Team for the 2009 and 2010 MotoGP World Championships.

Dave Connolly entered the 21st annual Schuck'sAuto Supply NHRA Nationals near Seattle 53 points below the Top 10 cut in the points - the line that in just one month will separate those who will battle for the 2008 world championship titles from those who won't.

Reigning Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. ran considerably quicker and faster than the one-year-old track records at Pacific Raceways during Friday's first two rounds of professional qualifying for the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals. Unfortunately so did everyone else, and the driver of the JEGS.com Chevrolet Cobalt finds himself 12th of the provisional grid at the mid-point of qualifying.

A memorial service will be held to honor Steve Peterson on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 2:00pm at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway infield kart track. It is here that Steve will be honored with the celebration of his life and love of motorsports with the disbursement of his ashes over the kart track. All who knew Steve are invited to attend. The kart track is located inside turns three and four in the speedway’s infield. Entrance to the infield is via the tunnel on the backstretch just before turn three.

California Hot Rod Reunion, Oct. 10-12, Auto Club Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield, Calif.

Another stellar group of Honorees have been chosen for the 17th annual California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California. The 3-day festival of speed and rods takes place at Auto Club Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield, Oct. 10-12.

The battle for the 2008 WSORR PRO Super Buggy Championship continues to be incredibly close. John Mason and his #912 Mendeola Transaxles Goodyear Tire Honda powered Super Buggy have been in a tight points battle with the #902 of Tim Lemons. Both drivers have finished on the podium every time out and the WSORR Bark River event would be no different.