Alonso Targets Pole, Victory

Renault's Championship leader Alonso, winner of the last two races in Malaysia and Bahrain, was second quickest in first qualifying at Imola, finishing just 0.003 seconds behind the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen.

Alonso, who has also started from pole position twice this season, was pleased with his qualifying effort.

"The weekend is difficult for us. We know Imola has been historically not a perfect circuit for Renault but the car is much better this year over the kerbs and with the suspension, and we are happy," said the Spaniard.

"We are there, we are second but we are competitive and can fight for pole and hopefully victory so even in bad circumstances we are still there so we are happy with the performance there."

Alonso was the last man on track and provided a thrilling end to the session, recovering in the final sector to finish extremely close to Raikkonen's time.

"I didn't know what Jarno was doing and I knew Kimi had done a 19.8, and on my display I saw the sectors I realised it was very close and I did the maximum in the last sector to get pole but it was not possible, so tomorrow hopefully there is a gap behind us so we can play strategy a bit," he said.

Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to match the pace of Alonso, finishing down in 15th place.