Raikkonen snatches Spanish Pole Position

Raikkonen snatches Spanish Pole Position
Spanish GP - Sunday qualifying

It could not have been much closer in Saturday qualifying and this set up a thrilling one-lap shoot out to see who would start the Spanish Grand Prix from Pole Position. Kimi Raikkonen was the one to get it right as he put in a great lap in his McLaren Mercedes to vault ahead of rivals Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli to claim the number one slot by just under two-tenths of a second.

Mark Webber starts a fine second in his BMW Williams after a very solid performance that sees the Australian driver move up the grid four positions. BMW Williams team-mate Nick Heidfeld starts at the back of the field after an engine change and a no-show in second qualification.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso has been pushed off the front row of the grid and starts from third position while Ralf Schumacher maintained his fourth position and starts ahead of the second Toyota of Jarno Trulli. The Italian out in the fifth fastest lap today and as a consequence drops down the order to fifth ending Toyota’s hopes of a maiden Pole Position in Spain.

Giancarlo Fisichella recovered two positions and starts in sixth position in the second Renault just ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya who vaults up the order from 12th to seventh after a very good lap in this second qualifying session. From that position Montoya stands a good chance of a good points haul.

Michael Schumacher starts in eighth position in his Ferrari, dropping one position overall. It remains to be seen whether Ferrari really do have the race pace that they have talked about all weekend long or whether they and Bridgestone are really not quite on the pace at Circuit de Catalunya. Rubens Barrichello did not record a lap time and starts at the back anyway due to his engine change penalty.

David Coulthard starts in ninth position in his Red Bull Cosworth, gaining one spot in this second session. Felipe Massa starts from tenth in his Sauber Petronas with Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jacques Villeneuve close behind.

Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro proved closely matched in this session with just over a tenth separating the two Jordan drivers. Unfortunately for Monteiro, his Toyota engine failed dramatically at the end of his lap, laying down oil and bringing out the red flags. He too will start from the back of the pack as the team rush to fit a new Toyota engine into the EJ15 for the 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix.

Christijan Albers retained and extended his advantage over Minardi team-mate Patrick Friesacher and starts 15th in his PS05.

And so to the race. Kimi Raikkonen has to be race favourite at this point but there are some question marks over the reliability of the MP4-20. Last time out in San Marino Raikkonen had the race in his hands only for a driver-shaft to fail. The Finn will be hoping that he enjoys a little more luck this Sunday at Circuit de Catalunya.


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eeeee *TOTAL* felicidad!! 2da pole seguida para Kimi!!! espero que esta vez no tenga problemas con el coche... go kimi!! :D