Christian Klien emerged as the surprise pace setter in the final practice session before qualifying for the German Grand Prix, although
Michael Schumacher's likely timesheet topping lap was ruined by a heavy off for Sakon Yamamoto.
Currently fighting for his
Red Bull seat, Klien was able to use his experience from racing in Germany in his junior days on the way setting a time of 1min 15.628secs, while team-mate
David Coulthard confirmed the team's encouraging pace by going fifth himself.
After a strong opening day,
Honda once again proved that they will be in the hunt for the top ten shootout, with both
Jenson Button and
Rubens Barrichello pumping in a good enough lap late on to claim the second and third fastest times respectively.
Felipe Massa led the
Bridgestone charge in fourth place, although it was likely to have been Michael Schumacher leading the way when his final, qualifying style lap was set to top the timesheets.
However, when
F1 debutant Yamamoto crashed at high-speed on the final bend with seconds on the clock remaining, Schumacher was slightly delayed and as a result crossed the line with the ninth best time.
Yamamoto meanwhile was unhurt in the shunt but his
Super Aguri SA06 was heavily damaged and with no spare chassis available, the team may have to revert back to the SA05 for qualifying.
Renault were once again pacing themselves, with
Giancarlo Fisichella emerging ahead of
Fernando Alonso again, the Italian claiming the sixth fastest time, compared to his team-mate 11th place best.
Seventh and eighth was claimed by Hockenheim's home teams of
BMW and McLaren-Mercedes, with
Nick Heidfeld leading
Kimi Raikkonen, while tenth place for Pedro de la Rosa will no doubt leave Ron Dennis confident ahead of qualifying.
Scuderia Toro Rosso claimed the 12th and 13th positions, Vitantonio Liuzzi leading
Scott Speed, while
Nico Rosberg put yesterday's crash behind him to post the 14th best time, ahead of
Williams team-mate
Mark Webber, the Australian just behind in 15th place.
