Montoya issues challenge

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA laid down the gauntlet to world championship-leading rival Michael Schumacher here on Friday when he set the fastest time in the first qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.

Colombian Montoya, who trails Schumacher by just one point in the title race, showed his Williams machine should be on the pace this weekend and prevented Ferrari from securing a one-two finish in front of their home fans.

Under clear blue skies, and with track temperatures rising above 40C, Montoya rose to the challenge to take the early lead in one of the most crucial weekends of the championship.

His time of 1min 20.656sec put him 0.128sec ahead of leading Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello and easily bettered the target set by Schumacher on the opening run of the session.

“Before qualifying I wasn’t too sure about what the car was going to do but it ran as expected, which means we did a good job,” Montoya said.

German five-time world champion Schumacher, who has seen his and Ferrari’s championship leads slip away in recent races, finished 0.612 seconds behind the in-form Montoya.

Toyota sprung the surprise of the session when Brazilian Cristiano da Matta claimed the fourth fastest time and bumped the third championship contender, McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, down to fifth.

Finn Raikkonen, who is two points behind Schumacher in the title race, finished 1.310 secs off Montoya’s pace, however, and set the same time as sixth-placed Australian Mark Webber of Jaguar.

German Ralf Schumacher, who returned to the cockpit earlier in the morning for the first time since his heavy testing crash here last week, saw his lap cancelled out as he cut across the chicane and was classified 19th.

Italian Jarno Trulli and Spaniard Fernando Alonso, the winner of the last race in Hungary three weeks ago, finished seventh and eighth respectively for Renault.