section and Marc Gené beached his car in the last turn's gravel trap. Ralf Schumacher missed half of the session as his team switched the engine in his car. The Saturday morning sessions were held in damp weather conditions and intermittent rain. Throughout most of the session, the circuit dried with sunlight appearing through the clouds. Häkkinen set the third session's fastest lap, a 1:44.144, one-tenth of a second quicker than Arrows driver Pedro de la Rosa. Coulthard was third fastest, ahead of Frentzen, Salo. Trulli, Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Villeneuve and Fisichella in positions four through ten. As the racing line began to dry, Ralf Schumacher, who recorded just a single lap in the second half of the session, lost control of the rear of his car on a damp patch after crossing the start/finish line and struck the turn one tyre barrier. Jean Alesi simultaneously beached his Prost car in the gravel due to a rear suspension failure on the damp circuit. In the final practice session, the circuit had become completely dry and lap times lowered when drivers located more grip on it. Nearly every driver exited the pit lane in the first minutes, giving teams a final chance to significantly adjust their cars before qualifying. Häkkinen set the day's fastest time, a 1:41.658, that he recorded with 15 minutes remaining in practice; his teammate Coulthard finished in third place. The Ferrari pair Michael Schumacher and Barrichello were second and fourth respectively in. Frentzen fell to fifth, with Fisichella sixth fastest and was happy with his car's feel. Button, Salo, Villeneuve and Trulli were in positions seventh to tenth. Fisichella's car suffered an engine failure in the session's closing seconds at the North Kurve turn with smoke billowing from his car. Michael Schumacher went backwards into the wall at the Opel Kurve corner in the stadium section after the session concluded Schumacher thus drove the spare Ferrari in qualifying. Qualifying Saturday's afternoon one hour qualifying session saw each driver limited to twelve laps, with the starting order decided by their fastest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, necessitating each driver to set a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. The session was held in damp weather with intermittent rain; drivers variously used grooved and wet-weather compound tyres. Coulthard took his second pole position of the season