Ralf: We have a Chance to Win

The German will start alongside Briton Jenson Button, who added to the Japanese-flavoured front row by securing second place for Honda-backed BAR.

The pole was Ralf's first for Toyota, the team he joined from Williams at the end of last year. Toyota also qualified on pole at Indianapolis in June with Italian Jarno Trulli.

The slippery conditions proved tricky for several early runners, with Trulli spinning backwards into the gravel at turn nine.

"It was a difficult lap for all of us, I think," said Schumacher. "It was very slippery out there, you saw with Jarno he had a bit of bad luck and a lot of the other drivers did as well. He was just on the limit of what we could do and we were lucky with the weather.

"Especially, it was clear, you saw that with Giancarlo already that he could have gone faster but luckily the rain came in. It was actually down to our predictions, that was perfect, so thanks to the weather guy.

"It is incredible. I have always loved Suzuka, I have been racing here since 1995. This is the first time for a Japanese team being on pole (here), which is obviously great. The team did a great job and we are really looking forward.

"I think we have a good chance tomorrow as well since some of the really strong cars are further back so we could have a really strong race tomorrow."

Schumacher was thankful to his team after they introduced the revised TF105B car for this weekend's race.

"Yeah, thanks really to the pushing in Cologne, they brought the B-car to the last test and we decided it was a better car, more consistent, better front-end, it is basically an evolution to define directions for next year and it worked out."