Hockenheim, Germany (My Sportsbook) - Kimi Raikkonen captured the pole for Sunday's Grosser Mobil 1 German Grand Prix. The Finn piloted his No.3 McLaren around the famous 2.842-mile course in one minute, 14.070 seconds.

The pole win was Raikkonen's first of the season and ninth of his Formula One career.

Starting on the front row with Raikkonen will be Michael Schumacher who posted a second-best time of 1:14.205.

Of the last 18 German Grand Prix events, 15 have been won by a driver starting in the front row.

Felipe Massa and Jenson Button will start in row two.

Series points leader and defending World Champion Fernando Alonso will start seventh on the grid.

The first of three sessions knocked out Vitantonio Liuzzi, Christijan Albers, Takuma Sato, Tiago Monteiro, Scott Speed and newcomer Sakon Yamamoto making his first F1 start. Ferrari was one-two in the session.

Schumacher and Massa also led the second session which saw the elimination of Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Jacques Villeneuve, Jarno Trulli, Christian Klien and Mark Webber.

Then the final 10 got down to determining the pole winner.

Kimi Raikkonen was the early session leader, but Pedro de la Rosa took the lead with five minutes to go. Raikkonen retook the lead edging out Schumacher with just three minutes remaining in the session and the time held up for the win.

As the series moves to the famous Hockenheimring for round 12 of 19 in the Formula One championship, Alonso and Schumacher appear to be headed for another thrilling chapter in the 2006 F1 season.

Alonso and Schumacher are one-two in the standings and have finished one-two in three of the last four events.

For the season, the Renault driver has earned six wins, four seconds and a fifth-place finish in 11 starts. Meanwhile, the seven-time series champion has four wins and four second-place results.

With seven races remaining, Alonso owns a 17-point lead over his rival.

Schumacher is coming off a surprisingly easy win at the French Grand Prix - his record eighth win at Magny-Cours. He won the pole and was never seriously challenged as he took the checkered flag 10.131 seconds ahead of Alonso.

But Alonso was the king at last year's German Grand Prix dominating the race en route to a huge 22.569-second win over Juan Montoya.

The race is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 8 a.m. (et).