 Trulli Fastest in First Qualifying - US GP Friday September 26th, 2003 By Will Gray Jarno Trulli left World Championship contenders Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen bedraggled and bemused when he claimed the fastest time in Friday's first qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Heavy rain in the second half of the session left the lower order struggling to even set a time but there were no excuses for the top three drivers as Trulli mastered the Indianapolis track to set a time of 1:09.566. That left him 0.269 seconds faster than second-placed Rubens Barrichello in the lead Ferrari as Colombian Montoya, German Michael Schumacher and Finn Raikkonen claimed fifth, eighth and ninth respectively. Australian Mark Webber finished third in the lead Jaguar, half a second slower than Trulli, but his British teammate Justin Wilson was one of the unlucky drivers to be hampered by rain and finished ten seconds off the pace in 18th. Ralf Schumacher, back on track after missing the Italian Grand Prix through injury, claimed the fourth fastest time as he pipped his Williams-BMW teammate Montoya, the lead title contender, by 0.150 seconds. Scot David Coulthard ensured that the each of the three Championship challengers was outqualified by their respective teammates when he posted a sixth fastest lap to finish less than a tenth of a second slower than Montoya. Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who won his first Grand Prix two races ago in Hungary, failed to match Renault teammate Trulli and finished almost a second slower in seventh position. Briton Jenson Button, of the Bridgestone-shod BAR-Honda team, completed the top ten runners behind Schumacher and Raikkonen to leave Michelin occupying seven of the top ten positions. Schumacher went out first and although he ran wide on the exit of the first corner he bettered the pole position time of 1:10.736 that he set in 2002. But title rival Montoya immediately when 0.364 seconds faster. Ralf Schumacher then snatched pole from Montoya by 0.150 seconds but Barrichello then bettered that with an impressive lap and Trulli, out after his Spanish Renault teammate Fernando Alonso, then went even faster. Rain began to fall, however, as the middle order runners headed out and the remainder of the field were left to tip-toe around the slippery circuit to simply set a time. Briton Ralph Firman, another driver returning from injury having missed the Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix, struggled in the conditions and could only set the 17th fastest lap in his Jordan. Dutchman Jos Verstappen, of Minardi, failed to even set a time as his traction control failed and the team decided to pull him into the pits rather than complete his flying lap.
Published at 20:00:52 GMT
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