Schumacher earns pole position for European Grand Prix

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 30, 2004 by Associated Press

NUERBURGRING, Germany -- Michael Schumacher rebounded from last week's crash to capture the pole position for European Grand Prix, the 60th pole of his career.

Schumacher is closing in on Ayrton Senna's record of 65 poles. This was the fifth pole of the season for the six-time Formula One champion.

Schumacher was timed in 1 minute, 28.351 seconds on Saturday on the 3.2-mile Nuerburgring circuit, and had the best times in each sector by a large margin.

After problems in Monaco last week and in practice for Sunday's race, Schumacher was superb.

The Ferrari driver limped out of the Monaco GP after 43 laps with his front left wheel dangling. His run-in with Juan Pablo Montoya ended his season-opening five-race winning streak.

"It's good to get back in the rhythm and forget about last week," Schumacher said. "You can't change it anyway."

Takuma Sato of BAR-Honda was second in 1:28.896, and Jarno Trulli of Renault took third at 1;29.135, just before Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes on 1:29.137.

Last year, Raikkonen claimed the pole with 1:31.523, only to retire when his engine blew up after 20 laps. Raikkonen also had the fastest times in Friday's practice.

Trulli, last week's winner, went out first in pre-qualifying and finished in just 1:29.905. The top time in that portion was Sato at 1:27.691.

Schumacher was forced out of the second practice Friday after his Ferrari developed a hydraulic problem, a rare occurrence for the German. Schumacher's car hasn't failed in a Formula One race since the German GP in 2001, an unrivaled string of 44 races.

Schumacher leads the driver standings with 50 points, with Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello second at 38.

Button has been making the most consistent runs at Schumacher this season, with two seconds and two thirds in the last five races.