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Schumacher takes first pole of 2000

Michael Schumacher took his first pole position of the 2000 season in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix

The Ferrari driver was slower than arch-rival Mika Hakkinen at first but then put in a storming lap on his third run to go over 0.4s quicker than anyone else.

Hakkinen could not respond, even his trademark last-minute effort falling short, although he did close to within 0.078s.

Rubens Barrichello was third, narrowly ahead of David Coulthard. The latter had to switch to the spare McLaren after a fuel feed problem on his race chassis.

Ralf Schumacher came close to making it onto the second row, but had to be content with fifth place and the 'best of the rest' slot.

The Jordans were eclipsed by another heroic Jacques Villeneuve performance, the Canadian hauling his BAR-Honda into the top six for the first time this year.

Pedro de la Rosa did an excellent job in his home race, taking a career-best ninth on the grid for Arrows, the second race in a row that one of the Orange-backed cars had qualified in the top ten.

Eddie Irvine completed the top ten in the fastest Jaguar, narrowly ahead of Jenson Button, Jos Verstappen, Mika Salo and Giancarlo Fisichella.

In a relatively uneventful session it was left to Nick Heidfeld to provide the entertainment in his Prost. After suffering an engine failure on the circuit he drove his car back to the pits, where it briefly caught fire before the marshals took control of the situation.

There was another close pit lane incident between Pedro Diniz and Fisichella, the two cars nearly making contact in the pit entry after the Brazilian had blocked the Italian's first flying lap.

Qualifying positions for the Spanish Grand Prix:

1 M Schumacher Ferrari 1m20.974s
2 M Hakkinen McLaren 1m21.052s
3 R Barrichello Ferrari 1m21.416s
4 D Coulthard McLaren 1m21.422s
5 R Schumacher Williams 1m21.605s
6 J Villeneuve BAR 1m21.963s
7 J Trulli Jordan 1m22.006s
8 H-H Frentzen Jordan 1m22.135s
9 P de la Rosa Arrows 1m22.185s
10 E Irvine Jaguar 1m22.370s
11 J Button Williams 1m22.385s
12 J Verstappen Arrows 1m22.421s
13 M Salo Sauber 1m22.443s
14 G Fisichella Benetton 1m22.569s
15 J Herbert Jaguar 1m22.781s
16 P Diniz Sauber 1m22.841s
17 R Zonta BAR 1m22.882s
18 J Alesi Prost 1m22.894s
19 A Wurz Benetton 1m23.010s
20 N Heidfeld Prost 1m23.033s
21 M Gene Minardi 1m23.486s
22 G Mazzacane Minardi 1m24.257s

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