Montoya Beats Schumacher to Pole in Canada

Juan Pablo Montoya claimed his sixth career pole at an overcast and eventually rain-hit circuit as World Champion rival Schumacher failed to match up to the on-form Colombian.

The cooler conditions were expected to suit Schumacher's Bridgestone tyres, but a lap of 1:12.836 moved Montoya into top spot and his third pole of the season was confirmed when rain began to fall.

Schumacher claimed second for Ferrari, just 0.182 seconds behind his rival, with his Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello one spot behind in third and brother Ralf fourth as Williams and Ferrari reigned supreme.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen was best of the rest for McLaren-Mercedes in fifth, with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella sixth for Jordan-Honda, boosting his team's hopes after Sato was hit with engine problems.

German Nick Heidfeld claimed seventh fastest time for Sauber, with Briton David Coulthard, winner of the last race, in Monaco, only eight fastest in the second McLaren-Mercedes.

Home favourite Jacques Villeneuve delighted the local crowd by claiming ninth spot, with Jarno Trulli tenth despite hitting the wall half way through the session.

For once Minardi were not the first to venture out on track as the Williams pair of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya set the ball rolling with ten minutes gone, with Montoya claiming the fastest time of 1:14.341.

The Colombian's Ferrari rival Schumacher remained in his garage waiting to pounce, and that he did, with 25 minutes gone, when he arrived on track and immediately dropped the benchmark by more than one second.

But Montoya was up for a fight, and attacked back to lower the target further with a time of 1:12.836 before Ralf Schumacher bumped his brother Michael down to third. The practice hit a lull with just more than half the session gone, when Jordan driver Takuma Sato suffered an unfortunate and spectacular engine failure and stopped at turn five.

The Japanese driver was faced with a long run back to the pits as the team set the spare car up for him, but he was initially delayed when he could not find his way across the lake in the centre of the track.

With 40 minutes gone, Jarno Trulli continued his troubled performance when he crashed his Renault into the wall and was forced to limp back to the pits with broken rear right suspension. The spare, like Sato's was set up for his teammate.

Schumacher made another bid to overhaul his rival and claim pole when the lead drivers returned to the track shortly after Trulli's crash, and although he bettered his time he could not beat Montoya's effort.

Barrichello, who hit the wall earlier in the day, then moved up to third, one ahead of Ralf Schumacher as the Williams and Ferrari cars claimed the top four spots before the rain arrived and stopped any further improvements.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:12.836 215.547 km/h 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:13.018 + 0.182 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:13.280 + 0.444 4. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:13.301 + 0.465 5. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:13.898 + 1.062 6. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:14.132 + 1.296 7. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:14.139 + 1.303 8. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:14.385 + 1.549 9. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:14.564 + 1.728 10. Trulli Renault (M) 1:14.688 + 1.852 11. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:14.713 + 1.877 12. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:14.823 + 1.987 13. Button Renault (M) 1:14.854 + 2.018 14. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:14.882 + 2.046 15. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:14.940 + 2.104 16. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:15.089 + 2.253 17. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:15.102 + 2.266 18. Salo Toyota (M) 1:15.111 + 2.275 19. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:15.115 + 2.279 20. McNish Toyota (M) 1:15.321 + 2.485 21. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:15.508 + 2.672 22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:17.347 + 4.511 All Timing Unofficial