Barrichello Quickest in First Qualifying - Brazilian GP

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello delighted the home crowd at the Brazilian Grand Prix when he topped the times in pre-qualifying at Interlagos.

Barrichello, running third from last, led the way with a lap time of 1:09.822 as he finished 0.040 seconds quicker than Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya.

Felipe Massa, like Barrichello driving in home race, was the third fastest man for Sauber ahead of Ferrari's World Champion Michael Schumacher and his Williams-BMW driving brother Ralf.

Ferrari's Schumacher took to the track in the spare car after his high-speed crash in the second practice session, which left his engine in flames. He will lose 10 grid positions as a result of changing power units.

Takuma Sato was sixth for BAR-Honda, David Coulthard ended seventh in his McLaren while teammate Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella and Toyota driver Jarno Trulli completed the top-ten.

The top 13 drivers were covered by less than 0.9 seconds in a closely-contested session.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:09.822 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:09.862 + 0.040 3. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:09.930 + 0.108 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:10.192 + 0.370 5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:10.258 + 0.436 6. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:10.373 + 0.551 7. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:10.418 + 0.596 8. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:10.440 + 0.618 9. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:10.467 + 0.645 10. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:10.478 + 0.656 11. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:10.607 + 0.785 12. Alonso Renault (M) 1:10.637 + 0.815 13. Villeneuve Renault (M) 1:10.708 + 0.886 14. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:11.230 + 1.408 15. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:11.315 + 1.493 16. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:11.394 + 1.572 17. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:11.912 + 2.090 18. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:12.242 + 2.420 19. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:12.916 + 3.094 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:13.032 + 3.210 All timing unofficial