Formula One: Fernando Alonso continued his dominance this season by securing his fifth consecutive pole position following a brilliant display in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Renault's world champion, fresh from three straight wins, was once again in a league of his own, with his lap of one minute 14.942 seconds comfortably clear of the chasing pack.
Giancarlo Fisichella emphasised Renault's impressive form by taking second place, 0.236secs slower than Alonso, to give the world champions a clean sweep of the front row.
McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen performed well to take third place on the Montreal track where he won 12 months ago, out-performing team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, who was down in seventh.
After reportedly agreeing a new three-year Toyota contract, Jarno Trulli returned to form to take fourth place and earn his highest grid spot this season as he chases his first points in 2006.
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was disappointing and starts fifth, giving him a mountain to climb if he is to eat into Alonso's 23-point championship lead.
Williams rookie Nico Rosberg was a fine sixth while Jenson Button managed to avoid a repeat of his Silverstone qualifying embarrassment to claim eighth on the grid.
The Honda driver was knocked out of qualifying at the first hurdle two weeks ago after a team blunder prevented him from improving his first slow lap.
He learned from that mistake though and was able to claw his way out of the bottom six and reach the second session, where he left it until the final seconds to once again scrape through.
Button's last-minute lap knocked home hero Jacques Villeneuve out of the top 10 and relegated him to 11th, although he at least outqualified 13th-placed BMW-Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld.
David Coulthard was another casualty of second qualifying. The Scotsman could only manage 16th in his Red Bull.
Mark Webber failed to make the cut in first qualifying for the second consecutive race after being dumped out by Williams team-mate Rosberg in the closing seconds.
Webber's last timed lap looked to have pulled him out of the bottom six but Rosberg vaulted above him to progress to second qualifying at the Australian's expense.
Webber starts 17th and can count himself unlucky after Rosberg only just made it around his lap intact, dragging his Cosworth-powered car along a concrete wall in a shower of sparks at one point.