Kimi edges out Alonso for pole at Spanish GP

Ferrari's [Images] world champion and Formula One leader Kimi Raikkonen [Images] took his first pole position of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday ahead of home hero Fernando Alonso [Images].

The Spanish crowd gave Alonso a standing ovation after Renault's double world champion pulled out all the stops at his home circuit only to be pipped by the Finn.

Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil will start 19th and 20th respectively.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa [Images], winner of the previous race in Bahrain, qualified third with BMW [Images] Sauber's Polish driver Robert Kubica fourth.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton [Images], last year's overall championship runner-up, shared the third row with Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen.

Raikkonen will be the clear favourite for Sunday's race, given that the driver on pole position has won at the Circuit de Catalunya for the past seven years in a row.

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1 min 21.813 secs
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:21.904
3. Felipe Massa (Brazil [Images]) Ferrari 1:22.058
4. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:22.065
5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:22.096
6. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1:22.231
7. Mark Webber [Images] (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:22.429
8. Jarno Trulli (Italy [Images]) Toyota 1:22.529
9. Nick Heidfeld [Images] (Germany [Images]) BMW Sauber 1:22.542
10. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:22.699
11. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:21.049
12. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan [Images]) Williams - Toyota 1:21.117
13. Jenson Button [Images] (Britain) Honda 1:21.211
14. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:21.230
15. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:21.349
16. Sebastien Bourdais (France [Images]) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:21.724
17. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 1:21.810
18. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:22.108
19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India - Ferrari 1:22.516
20. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India - Ferrari 1:23.224
21. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri - Honda 1:23.318
22. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri - Honda 1:23.496

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