Montoya Sets in Italy the Fastest Pole Ever

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya ended Ferrari's dominance to claim his seventh pole position of the season in a tightly contest that saw the Williams driver setting the fastest ever lap in Formula One with an avarage speed of 259.379 km/h.

Montoya left it late to claim top spot and end Ferrari's run of three pole positions as he proved Williams-BMW could provide a challenge to the dominant Italian team at the very circuit where they so desperately want to win.

World Champion Michael Schumacher will start alongside his Colombian rival on the front row after pipping his brother Ralf to second place with a lap 0.257 seconds slower than Montoya's best of 1:20.264.

Ralf Schumacher was third in the second Williams-BMW, just 0.021 seconds slower than his elder brother, with the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello fourth, almost half a second off the leader's pace.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth fastest in the leading McLaren-Mercedes, with Eddie Irvine continuing Jaguar's astonishing pace around the high-speed circuit to claim sixth fastest time, almost one and a half seconds slower than Montoya but still his best grid position of the season.

Briton David Coulthard was seventh in the second McLaren-Mercedes, with Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa completing Jaguar's dream qualifying session by claiming eighth place.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, of British American Racing Honda, and Finn Mika Salo, of Toyota, completed the top ten, while the Renaults of Italian Jarno Trulli and Briton Jenson Button struggled, finishing 11th and 17th respectively.

After a slow start, Schumacher moved into the ascendancy and with half the session gone he was at the top of the times with a lap of one minute and 21.016 seconds, 0.146 seconds ahead of Montoya.

Barrichello ruined his first flying lap by going off in the first chicane but soon moved up to third spot with a time just 0.063 seconds slower than Montoya with Ralf Schumacher fourth in the second Williams-BMW.

With 20 minutes of the session remaining, the younger Schumacher jumped to top spot with a time of 1:20.542, knocking his brother Michael down to second by just 0.188 as the session built to a close-run finale.

Montoya boosted Williams' hopes by moving up to second place on his second run, just pipping Schumacher's time by 0.015 seconds, and setting the German ace a challenge.

Montoya then went top with eight minutes of the session remaining, extending the target for World Champion Schumacher to a lap of 1:20.264 seconds. He improved his time in the closing stages, but could only manage second place.

The session was halted with three minutes remaining after a collision between Raikkonen and the Jordan of Takuma Sato left both cars in the gravel trap at the second chicane.

Sato, on a flying lap and trying to improve on his disappointing 18th position, tried to pass Raikkonen on the right-hand side coming into the chicane, but the Finn failed to see him in his mirrors and the pair collided as he moved across.

Malaysian Alex Yoong, refreshed from a two-race break, finished 1.3 seconds behind Minardi teammate Mark Webber in last place, but made it into the race with a time eight tenths of a second inside the 107 percent time.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:20.264 259.379 km/h 11 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:20.521 + 0.257 12 3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:20.542 + 0.278 11 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:20.706 + 0.442 12 5. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:21.606 + 1.342 11 6. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:21.712 + 1.448 10 * 7. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:21.803 + 1.539 11 8. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:21.960 + 1.696 12 9. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:22.126 + 1.862 11 10. Salo Toyota (M) 1:22.318 + 2.054 12 11. Trulli Renault (M) 1:22.383 + 2.119 11 12. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:22.515 + 2.251 10 13. McNish Toyota (M) 1:22.521 + 2.257 10 14. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:22.565 + 2.301 12 15. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:22.601 + 2.337 11 16. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:22.645 + 2.381 10 17. Button Renault (M) 1:22.714 + 2.450 11 18. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:23.166 + 2.902 10 19. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:23.794 + 3.530 12 20. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:25.111 + 4.847 12 * Raikkonen was penalised and lost his fastest lap All Timing Unofficial