On a sparkling Saturday afternoon exactly one year ago, Heinz-Harald Frentzen dazzled his home crowd, sweeping to second place in qualifying, missing out on pole position by just five-hundredths of a second, and was reborn overnight as a stellar local talent in the eyes of a crowd missing the hysterical distraction of Michael Schumacher.

The following day, Frentzen claimed his fourth podium finish of the year, behind the Ferraris of Eddie Irvine and Mika Salo to quietly but effectively cement his position as 1999's form driver and rebuild his place in the affections of the home fans who had deserted him after the wilderness years of Williams.

This year though, since arriving at Hockenheim, the Jordan driver has had to contend with Schumacher fever once more, finding himself demoted in the popularity stakes to second fiddle as Schumacher becomes conductor to the chorus of screaming German Ferrari fans swamping the stadium.

It is the way Frentzen likes it - low key, subtle. The points are proven on the track not the paddock and yesterday he once again made his case for re-election, quietly and efficiently pushing his redesigned Jordan EJ10B to second fastest in practice. It may be Friday, when times are meaningless, tyre choices are yet to be confirmed and fuel loads vary, but the demand is still there, Frentzen wants to feel again the thrill of qualifying on the front row, the rush of being on the podium at home.

"It would make me feel happier if I could beat Michael here, when he's racing here, but it doesn't make any difference to me what goes on around it," he said. "Obviously the predominant colour here is still red, but if we're successful there are a lot of Jordan fans who will come with us and that's what we have to do - be successful."

Frentzen is likely to have to hold off on that dream until next year, when, aided by the works-engine support that this week persuaded him to sign on at Jordan for another two years, he may get the chance to truly challenge his old sports-car series sparring partner Schumacher. However, he still believes that this weekend and the new car could still provide him with his best result so far.

"I'm happy with the performance today and I'd say we've made a good step forward as a result of the work done in testing in Silverstone last week," he said. "I think the car is very competitive on this track and I am looking forward to qualifying. We were really competitive last year and it's good that we've maintained that."

It's a view shared by Frentzen's race engineer, Sam Michael, who admitted the contract signing had put his driver in the mood to win. "So far things are going well for us with Heinz second fastest," said the Australian. "He has picked up where he left off last year and so far he's very happy.

"Obviously, we're aiming for him to be on the front row for the second year in a row and Heinz is certainly in the mood to that."

The German's team-mate, however, took a more cautious view of the team's chances here. Jarno Trulli, who suffered mixed fortunes yesterday, recording just three laps in the morning session thanks to an hydraulic fault, managed to claw his way to sixth in the afternoon but despite feeling positive about the dry afternoon session, admitted the rain that later fell in torrents could be Jordan's undoing.

The Italian admitted that the B-specification car brought to Hockenheim, which boasting a massively revised aerodynamic package, is suited to the dry but will struggle if the rains fall again tomorrow. The Italian also bemoaned the heavy forestation around the circuit saying that in wet weather the rains hangs in the trees creating a mist which reduces visibly even more than normal. However, he was encouraged by his afternoon's work yesterday.

"The new aerodynamic package feels very good and overall I feel that the car is competitive," he said. "I had a problem in the morning with the hydraulics. After that the mechanics had a lot of work to do as they had to strip the rear of the car and take the gearbox off to fix the problem.

Unfortunately the track was wet and it was very difficult to feel the car in those conditions. But even so I could tell we have the potential to do very well."

While yesterday's times are notoriously unreliable, the omens are good. With the chances of rain tomorrow fading to just five per cent, Frentzen could take his Friday role of interloper in the royal court of Ferrari and McLaren's could be translated into a genuine result for the team. However, with Mercedes on home turf, Schumacher looking to bite back after the failures of Austria and France and Honda rivals Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta honing in on Jordan's upper midfield position, Frentzen may find that for frustrated ambition there is no place like home.