Local hope Sebastian Vettel will race from pole position in the German Grand Prix after topping the times in qualifying in his Red Bull.
Vettel’s Red Bull was 0.002 seconds faster than Alonso’s Ferrari to give the German his sixth pole of the season.
Felipe Massa of Brazil in the second Ferrari, who was third, and Australia’s Mark Webber in the second Red Bull complete the two front rows of the grid.
McLaren drivers Britons Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton will start fifth and sixth respectively ahead of pole Robert Kubica of Renault and Williams driver Brazilian Rubens Barichello.
Germans Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Williams completed the top ten.
After an overcast, cold and wet Friday, the track was clear and the sun was out at the Hockenheimring.
Alonso relished the improved conditions from the off and was on top in Q1 while the three new teams were all eliminated along with Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Liuzzi crashed after running wide at the last corner just five minutes into the session, and Virgin driver Timo Glock narrowly escaped a stray wheel as he went past the Force India car.
Liuzzi claimed his accident was the result of a wet patch on the astro-turf. He said: “I came out of the last corner quite fast, and I think I hit a puddle in the artificial grass that was quite invisible.”
Despite his accident, Liuzzi will start Sunday’s race in 22nd place.
The biggest disappointment of the day was seeing crowd favourite and seven times champion German Michael Schumacher of Mercedes fail to make the top ten shoot out after fellow German Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg knocked him out of the top ten in the final seconds of Q2.
Agence France-Presse
