Panasonic Toyota Racing will attack the Japanese Grand Prix from a position of strength after Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli qualified third and fourth for the penultimate round of the 2006 Formula 1 World Championship.

The challenging 5.807km Suzuka circuit is a favourite among the drivers and a mecca for the ever-enthusiastic Japanese crowd. Next year, however, the Japanese Grand Prix moves to Fuji and the future of Suzuka is unknown as far as F1 is concerned.

With most of Friday practice run on a wet track, the teams had only Saturday morning practice to do their tyre and set-up work for the dry conditions predicted for the race. Both the Toyota team and tyre supplier Bridgestone seem to have done a superb job and both Ralf and Jarno are in contention for a podium finish.

Jarno has twice qualified fourth this season, in Canada and France, but Ralf's third place on the grid for tomorrow's race is the team's first top three qualifying slot of the year.

"It's a great achievement for the whole team and we needed it after the last two races, where circumstances conspired against us," Ralf said. We have known the lap time is there and we wanted to show it. To some extent it is a shame that it's the last race at Suzuka, I've raced here for 12 years including the Formula Nippon days and the track has always been good to me. That said, I look forward to the challenge of Fuji next year, but not before I've signed off with a memorable race here!"

Jarno added: "Bridgestone has obviously done a very good job but we have known for some time that our package is potentially strong and we have been wanting to prove it. There was nothing we could have done about the situation in Shanghai but here we are looking very good and I hope we can give the Japanese fans a really good display and a competitive result tomorrow." The two Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro cars made a clean sweep of the front row but it was Felipe Massa who took his second pole position of the year with a lap in 1m29.599s, while Michael Schumacher (1m29.711s), who could possibly clinch an eighth world championship tomorrow, starts second.

Behind the two TF106Bs, reigning champion Fernando Alonso (1m30.371s) was fifth fastest, ahead of Renault team mate Giancarlo Fisichella (1m30.599s). The Lucky Strike Hondas start from row four, Jenson Button lapping in 1m30.992s with Rubens Barrichello on 1m31.478s. Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber (1m31.513s) lines up ninth, with Nico Rosberg's Williams-Cosworth (1m31.856s) completing the top 10.

Chief Engineer, Race and Test, Dieter Gass, said: "We are very pleased with a good job in qualifying and I hope it will be the same in the race tomorrow with the tyres strong and consistent. Last year Ralf took pole position on a three-stop strategy but then a Safety Car worked against us. All I will say about strategy is that it is consistent with our simulations and we were certainly not putting on a show for the Japanese fans. "Both drivers did a good job and Jarno came in early for new tyres because it was not too much of a risk getting one lap in the bank on new tyres in case it started to rain. We knew we had another for the end of the session. We are looking forward to a strong race."