Jeremy McWilliams starts Sunday's German MotoGP on the second row of the grid.

The Ulsterman could not repeat his blistering pre-qualifying pace on Friday when he took provisional pole at the Sachsenring.

McWilliams was one of two riders who did not improve on Friday's pace-seting time as he took seventh place with his time of one minute 26.067 seconds.

"I seemed to hit a big wall today,'' said McWilliams.

''There was a lot of traffic out there, especially at the end when I was going for a time.

''I just didn't time it as well as yesterday. I also made a mess of the gearbox.

''I changed it before qualifying, but it was more of a disadvantage than otherwise.

''You're always looking for small advantages, and it's sometimes as easy to go the wrong way as the right.

''We'll change that back to the way it was on Friday

Pole position

''I've got a good race tyre, which I've already tested for two-thirds race distance, and the endurance was good.''

Taking pole position was Frenchman Olivier Jacque with a lap time of one minute 25.758 seconds.

Jacque featured in a dramatic final minutes in practice as he pipped Japan's Shjinyo Nakano by 0.08 of a second.

World champion and championship leader Valentino Rossi was again down on power and starts just ahead of McWilliams in sixth spot.

Rossi, still recovering from a broken thumb and bruising from last week's British Grand Prix, has found the Sachsenring something of a bogey circuit for him in the past.

Rossi finished only seventh there last year on his way to his first world title.

German MotoGP final qualifying
1 Olivier Jacque (Fra) Yamaha 1:25.758
2 Shinya Nakano (Jap) Yamaha 1:25.838
3 Max Biaggi (Ita) Yamaha 1:25.875
4 Alex Barros (Bra) Honda 1:25.956
5 Tohru Ukawa (Jap) Honda 1:25.991
6 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Honda 1:25.992
7 Jeremy McWilliams (GB) Proton KR 1:26.067
8 Garry McCoy (Aus) Honda 1:26.095.

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