Montoya Optimistic of First Win of 2002

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya is optimistic of scoring his first win of the season after he roared to pole position for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday with the fastest qualifying lap in Formula One history.

The Williams driver broke the 17-year record set by Finland's Keke Rosberg, also in a Williams, at Silverstone in 1985 by lapping the Monza circuit near Milan at an average speed of 259.827 km/h. Rosberg's record was 259.005 km/h, or 160.938 mph.

Montoya, unfussed as ever, greeted the news with a familiar shrug of the shoulders on a day when even a passionate crowd could not push Ferrari to the top slot at their home track. Michael Schumacher, the Italian team's five times World Champion and winner of a record 10 races this year, was 0.257 of a second slower and had to settle for second place on the grid.

"I think it's pretty good," said Montoya. "But probably next year it is going to be beaten again. It's about two seconds a lap quicker than last year so it's pretty impressive, I've got to say."

Montoya, triumphant from pole last year for the first victory of his Formula One career, has yet to win this season but has now secured seven pole positions in 15 races and 10 in his 32 career Grands Prix.

"I think the chances, compared to the other races, are pretty good," he said. "We have to wait and see what happens but the car is working very well here and things can play into our hands a little bit."

His time of one minute 20.264 seconds was also well inside his 2001 pole of 1:22.216, suggesting Sunday's race could set more records as the fastest since Formula One started in 1950. Monza holds the current record, with Briton Peter Gethin winning in a BRM in 1971 at an average speed of 150.76 mph (242.61 km/h).

BMW, Williams's partners, said the lap also marked a new stage of engine development with both their cars breaking the threshold of 19,000 revolutions per minute for the first time. At the start of last season it was 17,000.