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 Monaco GP: Qualifying Report

JPM FLIES TO MONTE POLE

A fantastic last lap effort gave Montoya his first Monaco pole position

BMW-Williams spearhead Juan-Pablo Montoya scored his second pole position of 2002 with a brilliant performance in a thrilling qualifying session at Monaco this afternoon.

The Colombian took the time in the dying moments after timing his run perfectly and benefiting from an excellent technical package of chassis, engine and Michelin tyres. Earlier he was engaged in a great battle for the top time with team-mate Ralf Schumacher and McLaren’s David Coulthard.

In fact it was the Scotsman who looked to have the pole sewn up until Montoya blitzed home with his brilliant time in the final moments. Coulthard, who took pole last year, drove a sensational session and at least has a chance to put in a good showing tomorrow starting from second.

The strength of the Michelin tyres hurt the Bridgestone-shod Ferrari cars

Michael Schumacher was third, four tenths slower than the pole time. The German had some traffic problems – always a critical factor at Monaco – and his Bridgestone tyres were vanquished by the Michelins. Brother Ralf ended up fourth in the other BMW-Williams contender, while Rubens Barrichello finished fifth. The 30-year-old Brazilian showed good form in the session but was held up by traffic on his promising last run.

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen came back after having some problems with his engine early on to take the sixth quickest time, while Renault’s Jarno Trulli, who had set the pace during practice on Thursday and during this morning’s session, was sixth with a time eight tenths slower than the pacesetter. He had problems getting a clear run and did not have a good enough package, which will leave him disappointed. Nevertheless he was ahead of his team-mate Jenson Button who finished in eighth place.

It was Toyota's best qualifying performance to date with Salo and McNish in the top ten

Toyota continued its excellent form with Mika Salo and Allan McNish taking ninth and tenth. Both men will be looking to score points in tomorrow’s race.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan Honda took 11th, ahead of Arrows Cosworth’s Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Sauber’s Felipe Massa in a disappointing 13th. Even more discouraging was team-mate Nick Heidfeld back in a lowly 17th.

Jacques Villeneuve finished 14th in the BAR-Honda, ahead of Enrique Bernoldi, Takuma Sato, and Heidfeld.

Olivier Panis in the second BAR was 18th, followed by Mark Webber, Pedro de la Rosa, and Eddie Irvine, in a demoralising 21st place. A far cry from his fifth of last year.

Alex Yoong did well to qualify after crashing early on. He was forced to use Webber’s car and finished four tenths of a second inside the 107% cut-off.

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