Alonso takes pole in Barcelona

Fernando Alonso sent his home crowd into raptures by taking pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona today.

The world champion waved excitedly from the cockpit of his Renault as he returned to the pits after a superb lap put him at the front of the grid for tomorrow’s race, his second successive pole.

Alonso, who has finished a close second behind Michael Schumacher in the last two races, edged top spot with his lap of one minute 14.648 seconds while team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella gave Renault a clean sweep of the front row with second spot. Schumacher briefly threatened the dethrone Alonso with a quick start to his last flying lap but slipped back to third in his Ferrari. Felipe Massa will back up his challenge from alongside in fourth.

Rubens Barrichello outqualified Honda team-mate Jenson Button for the second successive race in claiming fifth, with the Englishman off the pace in eighth.

Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli continued Toyotas steady improvement by taking sixth and seventh respectively while Kimi Raikkonen was ninth for McLaren.

His team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya was the surprise victim of the second-session cut, leaving him down in a disappointing 12th.

The Colombian is fighting for his McLaren future with his contract expiring at the end of the season but team boss Ron Dennis looked unimpressed with his efforts as he watched from the pit wall.

David Coulthard will start his 200th grand prix from the back row of the grid after a mistake in the first session.

The Scotsman lost control of his Red Bull car at turn three and bounced through the gravel, slamming into the tyre barriers backwards and causing extensive wing and suspension damage.

That brought out the red flags and condemned Coulthard to 21st position on the grid, only ahead of Jacques Villeneuve.

The Canadian needed a new engine in his BMW-Sauber after his original was damaged in transit and that brought a 10-place penalty.

Along with Coulthard, the usual suspects were eliminated in the first session, with Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Scott Speed just missing the cut ahead of both Midlands and the Super Aguris.

Midland’s Christijan Albers was unhappy on his way to 18th, giving a single-finger gesture to Franck Montagny after being held up by the French rookie.