SAO PAULO, Brazil, Oct 23 (AFP) - Rubens Barrichello took a hugely popular pole position for his home Brazilian Grand Prix with a dominant performance in qualifying here Saturday.
The Ferrari driver, the last man on track, crossed the line to a roar of delight from the Interlagos crowd as he grabbed the 13th pole of his career.
Barrichello is chasing a dream victory in his home town after failing to finish the Brazilian Grand Prix at the last nine attempts.
He was 0.204 seconds ahead of Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya with McLaren`s Kimi Raikkonen completing the top three.
Felipe Massa qualified an impressive fourth for Sauber - equalling his best-ever grid position - with Jenson Button fifth on the grid for BAR-Honda ahead of his team-mate Takuma Sato and Williams` Ralf Schumacher.
World champion Michael Schumacher could only qualify in eighth place.
Ferrari`s Schumacher qualified in the spare car following a high-speed crash in the second practice session, which left his engine in flames.
The seven-time world champion loses 10 grid positions as a result of changing power units and will begin in 18th place.
Renault`s Fernando Alonso and Toyota`s Jarno Trulli completed the top 10. Mark Webber posted the first meaningful time for Jaguar before Alonso and then Button both moved to the top of the times in quick succession. Raikkonen lowered the best time by a further 0.2 seconds.
Schumacher was unable to make any impression as he completed his lap 0.495 seconds down on Raikkonen.
Massa had looked set to topple Raikkonen only to lose time in the final sector, but Montoya was able to do so as he took over at the top by 0.042 seconds.
But Barrichello saved the best until last as he claimed the pole position the sell-out crowd had come to see.
Minardi driver Gianmaria Bruni opted against completing his lap as he stayed in the garage. His team-mate Zsolt Baumgartner, who was hit with a 10-grid position penalty, qualified as the slowest of the other 19 drivers.
10/23/2004 17:00 GMT - AFP