HOHENSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, Germany, July 14 - World championship leader Casey Stoner of Australia grabbed his second pole position of the season in qualifying at the German Grand Prix on Saturday.

Stoner, who has a 21-point advantage over Valentino Rossi at the halfway stage of the season, powered his Ducati around the twisting Sacsenring circuit in 1:22:384 seconds, just 0.004 ahead of Spaniard Dani Pedrosa.

Rossi, who came from 11th at the start to win in Germany in 2006 and is going for a third straight win this year, was sixth fastest with a time of 1:22:605, 0.221 behind Stoner.