Perfect lap puts Mansell on pole

The 1992 World Champion lapped Kyalami in one minute and 33.428 seconds - half a second quicker than a superb effort from 58-year-old Emerson Fittipaldi, and Riccardo Patrese in third.

"I found a way to bring the tyres in a bit better," Mansell said. "I did a reconnaissance lap and then went straight in. I didn't want to do any more laps than necessary. I tell you, the first and third corners here are pretty challenging. I think we need to straighten them out a bit!

"But it's fantastic. We were making history here today. This is not a show, it's the real thing. All the cars have qualified well, there's ten cars within about three-quarters of a second and that's awesome.

Everyone has done a phenomenal job - the mechanics, the engineers, Scott Poulter - and I just want to congratulate everyone."

Mansell went on to offer more personal congratulations to Fittipaldi, who did not make up his mind to race until a couple of days ago.

"Emmo is the biggest hero here today," Mansell said. "He's hit a few hard walls in his time and to come here and do what he's done, is fantastic.

"What Riccardo [Patrese] said about having to go through a mental barrier is absolutely right, and I think all of us are flat-out in sixth gear down the hill. Bloody stupid really!

"But I've loved hanging it out today. I haven't done that for a long time. I put a wheel in the dirt at one stage and I was calling myself a prat in the car. It's been great."

Fittipaldi, a broad grin on his face, said: "I got a bit of traffic on my second lap, otherwise I think I'd have been closer to Nigel."

There was even a bit of gamesmanship between the pair in the final minutes of the session.

"I saw Nigel going out and I decided to try and follow him," Emerson explained. "But he saw me behind him and he backed off. Then he went again, I tried to go with him and he backed off again!

"I've enjoyed every minute of this. I had the best dice of my career with Nigel in Champ Cars at Cleveland, when we swapped places about seven times in two laps. Tomorrow, Nigel, be ready!"

Behind Mansell the field proved evenly matched, with Fittipaldi second on 1:33.998 and Christian Danner seventh on 1:34.132.

The drivers were allowed four sets of Avon tyres for the weekend, and after free practice yesterday and this morning, most had two new sets left for qualifying with a maximum permitted 15 laps.

Danner reckoned that the grip characteristics were such that the best lap had to be the first, but Mansell actually did a 1:33.878 on the first lap of his first run before finding another four tenths of a second on the next lap.

The Briton then waited until the dying seconds to do his final run but lapped a tenth shy of his first run time.

All the Grand Prix Masters aces acknowledge that tomorrow's race will bring physical factors much more sharply into focus but the scene looks set for a highly entertaining afternoon.

 1.  Mansell       1:33.428    9
 2.  Fittipaldi    1:33.998   14
 3.  Patrese       1:34.048   12
 4.  Lammers       1:34.082   14
 5.  De Cesaris    1:34.086   13
 6.  Warwick       1:34.087   13
 7.  Danner        1:34.132    9
 8.  Cheever       1:34.602   13
 9.  Stuck         1:34.755    7
10.  Johansson     1:34.841   12
11.  Arnoux        1:35.453    8
12.  Salazar       1:36.852   14
13.  Tambay        1:36.948    9
14.  Laffite       1:36.958    7