Jarno Trulli claimed his first-ever Formula One pole position at Monaco today with a blistering lap to put world champion Michael Schumacher in the shade.
Schumacher is chasing a record sixth win from six races this season but was denied his 60th pole position by Renault driver Trulli, whose lap of one minute 13.985 seconds is the fastest ever at Monaco.
The Italian, whose previous best qualifying position was second, will line up alongside Jenson Button on the front row after the Englishman recorded a superb effort.
Button, who took his first pole at Imola last month, was 0.411secs slower than Trulli in his BAR.
Schumacher will face a tricky task to maintain his 100 per cent win record this season after qualifying in fourth, especially with the twisty streets of Monaco notoriously difficult to overtake on.
The six-time world champion starts alongside Fernando Alonso on row two after the Spaniard completed a strong day for Renault by taking third.
Ralf Schumacher was second fastest but will start down in 12th after receiving a 10-place penalty for an engine change on Thursday.
Michael Schumacher, who was sixth out on track after a surprisingly slow pre-qualifying run, set the early benchmark.
He saw off the challenge of Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, whose effort was 0.2secs slower while Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya - another of the men most likely to challenge for pole position - was over half a second down.
Schumacher's time could not withstand Trulli's challenge though, with the Italian putting in a stunning lap to wipe over half a second of the German and become the first driver this weekend to break the 1min 14secs barrier.
Takuma Sato looked set to do even better but after easily going quickest in the first sector, the BAR driver locked both front wheels under braking for the chicane and lost valuable time.
Sato's team-mate Button was also faster than Trulli in sector one but he too lost ground, although he at least made no obvious mistake.
Ralf Schumacher, the last man out on track, looked capable of going quickest but lost valuable time in the second two sectors on his way to a time 0.360secs slower than Trulli.