Schumacher Grabs Last Minute Pole at Imola

Michael Schumacher delivered a dramatic last-gasp fastest lap in qualifying on Saturday to snatch pole position from his Ferrari teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello for Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

It ensured that the German quadruple World Champion registered the 45th pole of his career and also established a qualifying and outright lap record for the scarlet-coloured team in front of their home fans at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

The drama, saved to the final seconds, saw Schumacher clock a best time of one minute and 21.091 seconds to secure the prime grid position with the best time on the famous old track since it was reconfigured since the deaths of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger and Brazilian Ayrton Senna in 1994. Schumacher ended up 0.064 seconds clear of his teammate Barrichello at the front of the field.

The two Ferraris will start on the front row ahead of the two Williams-BMW's of German Ralf Schumacher and Colombian Juan-Pablo Montoya with the two McLaren-Mercedes-Benz of Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Briton David Coulthard behind them in fifth and sixth places. Luckless Malaysian Alex Yoong, driving a Minardi Asiatech, failed to qualify despite a late push on his final run.

In Sunday's race Schumacher will become the driver to have made the most starts for the Ferrari team as he bids to enlarge his record of career victories to 56 and press home his early-season domination of the embryonic drivers' World Championship. He acknowledged the importance of such a record to the tifosi at the end of the session, but warned that Sunday's race is likely to be tough and competitive.

On welcome warm and dry afternoon, Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi, in his Orange Arrows, provided the first incident when his engine expired in the opening minute, forcing him to abandon his car and return to the team garage. On the first warm and dry day of the weekend, it was a sign of the difficulties currently facing the cash-starved British team.

Once the more established runners joined the fray, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in his BAR-Honda established an earliest fastest time followed, in turn by Ralf Schumacher and then Barrichello. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in his Jordan-Honda was forced to stop out on the track as the tension built up during the session before the first appearance of Michael Schumacher.

The 'red baron' found it difficult to match the pace of his rivals at first and needed to use all of his available runs to squeeze out a faster time than his teammate who had overcome the efforts of Ralf Schumacher to establish the fastest time midway through the qualifying hour.

Michael Schumacher ended up stepping gradually in speed, avoiding mistakes in the end to grab pole position. His fourth run was his cleanest and his best.

"They gave me a hard time today," said Schumacher. "But it was fun."

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.091 218.998 km/h 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:21.155 + 0.064 3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:21.473 + 0.382 4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:21.605 + 0.514 5. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:22.104 + 1.013 6. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:22.490 + 1.399 7. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:22.767 + 1.676 8. Trulli Renault (M) 1:22.833 + 1.742 9. Button Renault (M) 1:22.857 + 1.766 10. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:23.116 + 2.025 11. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:23.681 + 2.590 12. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:23.821 + 2.730 13. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:23.862 + 2.771 14. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:24.050 + 2.959 15. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:24.253 + 3.162 16. Salo Toyota (M) 1:24.328 + 3.237 17. McNish Toyota (M) 1:24.331 + 3.240 18. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.579 + 3.488 19. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:24.790 + 3.699 20. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:24.808 + 3.717 21. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.852 + 3.761 22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:27.241 + 6.150 * * Outside 107% All Timing Unofficial