SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- Ferrari's Michael Schumacher is primed to make Formula One history in Belgium on Sunday after finally claiming the one pole that has escaped him for a decade.

The five-time world champion gave a qualifying exhibition at his favorite circuit Saturday, lapping nearly half a second faster than the best of the rest on a dry and clear afternoon in the Ardennes forests.

	Michael Schumacher now has one pole to go with his five career wins at Spa.

It was the 48th pole of his career and completed Schumacher's collection.

The German can now boast that he has started every race on the current 17-race calendar from the pole at some point since he made his debut at Spa in 1991.

Schumacher, who has won a record five times in Belgium, aims to continue his reign as the king of Spa by becoming the first driver to win 10 grands prix in a single season.

He already shares the record of nine with Briton Nigel Mansell, a spectator at Spa on Saturday.

The main threat is likely to be Finland's young charger Kimi Raikkonen, in a McLaren, who secured the first front row start of his career with a time 0.424 slower than Schumacher's lap of one minute 43.726 seconds.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello , the current runner-up in the championship in the second Ferrari, was third quickest and starts alongside the Williams of Michael's younger brother Ralf.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, Ralf's teammate and the pole-setter last year, filled the third row with McLaren's David Coulthard.

Schumacher, who always professes a disinterest for statistics, said he had only realized this week that he had never before been on pole at Spa.

"Some guys told me on Thursday and I wasn't aware at all," he said. "I thought it had happened somewhere. I don't keep too much record of what I have done.

"But finally today we were able to do it."

The German managed to get in only three of his four flying laps but it did not matter much.

His very first attempt of 1:43.994, when he hit the track with 25 minutes of the hour-long session completed, would have been good enough to secure pole anyway but he bettered the time with 10 minutes remaining.

Raikkonen, fastest in free practice Friday and Saturday morning, was also right on the pace from the start.

The Finn had a scare with half the session gone when Olivier Panis suffered a blown engine in the BAR and sent smoke billowing across the track.

Raikkonen radioed his team for information and barely lifted as he roared blind through the smoke.

"I asked which way I had to go as I could see absolutely nothing," said the driver, nicknamed 'Iceman' by his own team, in his usual deadpan fashion. "I just saw the oil line and took the opposite side of the circuit and went through the smoke. Luckily there was nothing in front of me."

Renault's Jarno Trulli and Jaguar's Eddie Irvine filled the fourth row, with the Briton enjoying his best qualifying result since Monaco last year. Toyota's Mika Salo , who is retiring at the end of the season, and Renault's Jenson Button were ninth and 10th.

Jordan, which has historically scored more points at Spa than at any other circuit and had a one-two finish here in 1998, experienced a disappointing day with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella skidding out into the barriers.

He was 14th, Japanese teammate Takuma Sato 16th.

At the back, Briton Anthony Davidson qualified comfortably but last in his second race as a stand-in for underperforming Malaysian Alex Yoong.

Only 20 cars will start on Sunday after Arrows, its Formula One future in considerable doubt as they seek to finalize a sale to an unnamed American buyer, left the circuit on Friday night.

Arrows have now missed two races in a row and three out of the last four after failing to qualify in France.