Formula One: Michael Schumacher made Formula One history today by claiming pole position for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, breaking Ayrton Senna's record in the process.
Schumacher picked a poignant venue for his 66th career pole position, in front of Ferrari's home fans and at the track which claimed the life of Senna 12 years ago. He set a best lap of one minute 22.795 seconds to cap a so-far-impressive weekend for Ferrari.
Jenson Button will start from the front row for the third race in succession for Honda after taking second, less than a quarter of a second down on Schumacher.
His team-mate Rubens Barrichello shrugged off the poor form which has plagued him so far this season to earn third spot on the grid, just ahead of the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
World champion Fernando Alonso was left in the shade in fifth place with Ralf Schumacher sixth for Toyota. The McLaren duo of Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen start seventh and eighth respectively.
Alonso can expect little help from team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella though after the Italian slumped out of qualifying in the second knockout round.
Fisichella was just 0.011secs outside the top 10 but that left him watching the pole position shoot-out from the pits and contemplating an 11th-place start.
David Coulthard also departed at that stage after earning 14th for Red Bull.
After recent high-profile victims of the new knockout qualifying, today's first session saw a more predictable order emerge.
Red Bull's Christian Klien just missed the cut and will start from 17th while Scuderia Toro Rosso's Scott Speed will attempt to avenge his Melbourne misery from 18th.
Speed thought he had become the first American driver since 1993 to score a point when he finished eighth in Australia but he was demoted for overtaking under a yellow flag.
The Midlands of Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers, as well as Super Aguri's Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide, were predictably propping up the timing sheets.
Starting Grid
1. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari
2. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda
3. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari
5. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault
6. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota
7. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren
9. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota
10. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams - Cosworth
11. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault
12. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber
13. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Cosworth
14. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Ferrari
15. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso - Cosworth
17. Christian Klien (Austria) RedBull - Ferrari
18. Scott Speed (U.S.) Toro Rosso - Cosworth
19. Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) MF1 - Toyota
20. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) MF1 - Toyota
21. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda
22. Yuji Ide (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda