Montoya

NUERBURGRING, Germany -- Juan Pablo Montoya seized his third pole in a row as Williams swept champions Ferrari aside at the European Grand Prix.

The Colombian blasted out an unbeatable lap of one minute 29.906 seconds to push German teammate Ralf Schumacher off the top spot by the blink of an eye with 12 minutes remaining.

In an hour-long session brought forward to prevent a clash with World Cup soccer Saturday, Ralf had looked a good bet for the pole after setting the early pace on a reconfigured Nuerburgring circuit.

But Montoya, who will now be keeping his fingers crossed that he is not robbed by engine failure Sunday for the third straight race, flashed across the line just nine thousands of a second faster.

It was his fourth pole in nine races and the seventh of his 26-race Formula One career. Sunday's race will be the first with an all-Williams front row since last September's Belgian Grand Prix.

"I've got to say we're pretty confident we're going to get to the end of the race," said Montoya, who shares second place with Ralf in a series dominated by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

The sharp end of the grid looked like a Ferrari sandwich, the Italian team providing the red meat between rivals Williams and McLaren.

Ralf's older brother and Ferrari's four-time world champion used his spare car to finish third in 1:30.035 alongside Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello.

Schumacher had the full support of his home fans, who aimed firecrackers into the sky and cheered wildly as he went past, but could not find any more time after a gearchange problem forced him to switch cars.

Schumacher leads the standings by 43 points after six wins in eight races and was the winner last year on home territory. He was also comfortably the fastest in Saturday's final free practice.

McLaren filled the third row, with David Coulthard just faster than Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Renault also had the fourth row to itself with Italian Jarno Trulli and Briton Jenson Button.

"It's perfect for the team to be on the front row," said Ralf, on the front row for the first time this year, but also second on the grid at the Nuerburgring last year. "We didn't expect it to be honest. After this morning we thought we had to concern ourselves with being on the second row and not to be passed by the McLarens.

"It's a bit surprising but the team did a great job."

The circuit is near his and Michael's hometown of Kerpen, but the older sibling is chasing his 60th career victory while Ralf has just four to his name.

"We got stuck in gear, and that meant we had to change cars," Michael said of his abortive first attempt of the session. The German was on course for the pole in the dying seconds but made two small errors on the last corners.

"I just pushed a little too hard and overdid it."

Further down the grid, there was disappointment for Jordan's Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who qualified a distant 18th for what will be his 100th start.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, in the BAR, fared even worse with a 19th-place start just ahead of Mark Webber's Minardi. His French teammate, Olivier Panis, was 12th.

Toyota, whose factory is in nearby Cologne, celebrated another top-10 start with Mika Salo slotting in alongside the ninth-place Sauber of German Nick Heidfeld.