Ralf Schumacher will spearhead the Panasonic Toyota Racing challenge in tomorrow's British Grand Prix, round 8 of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The 30-year-old German driver lapped Silverstone in 1m21.073s to record the seventh fastest time in a highly competitive session that saw the first eight drivers covered by less than a second.

The high-speed expanses of the former airfield circuit could hardly provide a bigger contrast to the tight confines of Monte Carlo and once again the team elected to save tyres and run only on used tyres in free practice on Saturday morning.

"It was a close session and another couple of tenths would have put me into the top five," Schumacher said. "But the important thing is that the balance felt good and my last lap was strong. We should be in a good position to challenge for strong points in the race."

For Jarno Trulli there was more disappointment when he suffered an engine failure in the very first session of qualifying before he had even recorded a time.

Since the introduction of the V8 engines in Formula 1 this year, more than 70% of the Silverstone lap is taken at full throttle, making the circuit tougher on engines than before.

"The engine has always been a strong, reliable part of our package," Trulli said, "but today there was a problem. It means that I will have to change engine for the race and will be faced with trying to make up as much ground as possible from the back of the grid."

At the front of the field, Fernando Alonso (1m20.253s) took his fourth consecutive pole position for Mild Seven Renault, ahead of Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen (1m20.397s). Michael Schumacher (1m20.574s) was third quickest for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, 0.2s quicker than team mate Felipe Massa. Giancarlo Fisichella (1m20.919s) set the fifth fastest time with the second Renault, marginally quicker than Rubens Barrichello (1m20.943s) with the faster of the Lucky Strike Hondas. Behind Ralf, Juan Pablo Montoya's McLaren (1m21.107s) and the BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld (1m21.329s) and Jacques Villeneuve (1m21.599s) completed the top 10 qualifiers.

Toyota's Pascal Vasselon said: "It was a strong performance from Ralf but once again things have not gone right for Jarno. We will have to analyse the failure before we know more, but he will obviously face a difficult afternoon tomorrow. Still, we are confident with Ralf's strategy so we hope he can build on his position and have a strong race tomorrow."