Pole man Coulthard beats rivals and weather.

David Coulthard will start tomorrow's European Grand Prix from pole position having timed his qualifying run just right to beat both Michael Schumacher and the impending rain.

The pole - the ninth of Coulthard's career - was hard fought in the initial stages, as the drivers kept one eye on the build-up of dark clouds over the Eifel mountains surrounding the Nurburgring. Each of the expected front runners emerged in the opening 15 minutes, hoping to get a quick lap in the bank should the worst happen, and the times tumbled as an initial damp patch at the hairpin began to dry out.

Marc Gene, as first man out of the pits, set the opening target, but saw it easily destroyed by a list of successors. Rubens Barrichello endured a wild ride at the hairpin, as he found it still lacking adhesion, but still clocked in almost two seconds in front of the Spaniard.

Williams twins Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher crossed the line in quick succession to vault to the top of the order, taking another half second off the best mark into the bargain. Even then, however, things were far from settled, as Mika Hakkinen found another second to take top spot, before being toppled by team-mate Coulthard.

Schumacher then decided to get serious, lowering the target by an awesome half second as he completed the last sector almost to perfection, but the McLarens weren't done. Hakkinen went back to the top, becoming the first to dip into the 1min 17secs bracket, but then had to watch as Coulthard bounced back to have the final say. The Scot, somehow, dug out another two-tenths from deep within the MP4-15 to take his first pole of the year, and was able to watch with growing satisfaction as the rain decided whether it was set for the remaining 25 minutes of the session.

As it happened, the conditions eased to allow everyone another shot at improvement in a frantic final two minutes, but none of the top names were among those to better their earlier attempts. Coulthard emerged in case he needed to defend his honour, but was able to savour another achievement of a curious roller-coaster season as he lingered in parc ferme.

Schumacher merely looked perplexed, perhaps that the weather had scuppered his chance to fully utilise the latest Ferrari engine or perhaps that McLaren had been able to challenge his authority again - and on home ground at that.

Behind the top three, Barrichello clung on to take a spot on row two, while Ralf Schumacher maintained family honour in fifth. Jarno Trulli found a late improvement to climb from 17th to seventh as the rain fell, and found yet more to climb another place with a last ditch flier. The man he displaced, Giancarlo Fisichella, found enough in his Benetton to take a creditable seventh, ahead of Eddie Irvine, Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the top ten.

Each had had the chance to line up sixth but, for various reasons, found themselves down the order when it mattered most. Villeneuve, in particular, was a victim of the weather's impeccable timing, while Frentzen climbed from his Jordan during the break fuming that he had been held up Jos Verstappen's Arrows.

Outside the top ten, Jenson Button improved to eleventh in the last lap scramble, edging out Pedro de la Rosa, the impressive Nick Heidfeld and the maligned Verstappen. Alex Wurz recovered from an opening lap excursion at the hairpin to claim 15th, dumping the luckless Johnny Herbert to 17th, and finishing ahead of Pedro Diniz, the only man not to emerge in the last minute.

Herbert had been winding up for a better lap when the rains came, and will again start lower than his practice times this morning would have indicated. A repeat win for the 1999 victor looks increasingly unlikely.

Jean Alesi was 18th, having suffered two mechanical problems and an off, when he emerged fractionally before the track had dried sufficiently for the tyres. Ricardo Zonta could only manage 19th, having been in the top ten almost throughout practice, and will have to struggle through the field if he is to get the result he has been promising both himself and the team, while Mika Salo and Marc Gene would both also have hoped to be higher for Sauber and Minardi respectively. Gaston Mazzacane was 22nd, as expected.

Mika Hakkinen will have his work cut out to beat either of the front row men, but will remember what happened last season. The weather forecast is much as it was this afternoon, with showers expected to sweep across the Schloss Nurburg at some point during race day. Perhaps even Johnny Herbert shouldn't be discounted if that happens.