by Gordon HowardA determined Mark Webber of Red Bull secured pole position for Sunday's German Grand Prix with a blistering performance in the final minutes of Saturday's tense and competitive qualifying session.
On a cold afternoon in the Eifel mountains, the 34-year-old Australian was dominant as unexpected nearest rival Lewis Hamilton grabbed second place for McLaren.
The Briton's performance pushed defending champion Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull off the front row of the grid.
It was the first time this year that 24-year-old German, the runaway leader in this year's title race, had failed to qualify on the front row and, overall, the first time in 15 Grands Prix since last season's Italian Grand Prix.
For Webber, it confirmed his liking for the Nurburgring circuit, where he claimed his first career win two years ago.
It was his second pole in successive races, his third this year and the ninth of his career.
Webber clocked a fastest lap of one minute and 30.079 seconds to take the prime starting position ahead of Hamilton, who produced a brilliant effort to take second just 0.05 seconds behind him in his McLaren.
Webber said: "My form has been getting better and this track's not been too bad for me in the past.
"The boys did a great job on the car - there were some late nights in the lead up to here but we got it together in the end. After my lap I thought that if someone gets me they deserve it because I was at my limit and it was a great lap."
"That was a wicked lap," said Hamilton after splitting the Red Bulls.
"It had everything."
He added: "I really must thank and congratulate my team. The upgrades this weekend - updates and improvements to engine modes - have been arriving all the time and they have helped massively.
"I underestimated how good the car would be when we went to light fuel load. It was one of the happiest and most comforting laps I have ever had, I felt incredible. We are not far from them (Red Bull) so I'm very happy."
Vettel, whose form has slipped from his own very high standards in the lat two months, was only able to take third place ahead of two-times champion Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa who was fifth after a dramatic finale to qualifying.
A defensive Vettel insisted: "It is not a disappointment. I would like to be further up, but it was a tough session. The balance was not right yesterday and although we made a bit of a recovery today, we should have been quicker.."
Vettel has never won a race on home soil and is desperate to end that record on his 'homecoming' as champion, but he has looked slightly ill at ease as his main rivals have begun to produce faster and more competitive performances.
German Nico Rosberg took sixth for Mercedes ahead of Briton Jenson Button in the second McLaren.
Then came another German, Adrian Sutil of Force India, Russian Vitaly Petrov of Renault and seven-times champion local hero Michael Schumacher, 42, in the second Mercedes. 'Schumi' was 2.4 seconds off pole.
Jenson Button aborted his final qualifying lap and said afterwards he was mystified at being comprehensively outpaced by Hamilton.
"We lost the balance that we had in the morning and I don't know the answer," he said.
The German Grand Prix is the 10th round in the 19-race calendar.
Vettel leads the drivers' championship with 204 points ahead of Webber on 124, Alonso on 112 and the two McLaren drivers Button and Hamilton on 109.
In the constructors' championship, Red Bull lead with 328 ahead of McLaren on 218 and Ferrari on 164. AFP
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