The 30-year-old Trulli scorched around the 4.672km Circuit de Catalunya in 1m14.795s to pip home hero Fernando Alonso (1m14.811s) to the fastest time. And, emphasising again just how competitive the current Formula 1 grid is, Kimi Raikkonen’s West McLaren Mercedes lapped in 1m14.819s, meaning just two hundredths of a second covers the first three drivers ahead of Sunday’s second qualifying session with race fuel levels.

Trulli, while predictably happy with his position, said he had not pushed to the absolute maximum: “In morning practice I was struggling with the car and there was a small problem with the engine,” he explained. “But the team did a great job, we had a new aero update here and we keep improving. It is a great result for us. I think I got it right everywhere without overdriving. It was a bit windy today and I wasn’t fully confident to attack as much as I normally do, which is why I am a little bit surprised to have provisional pole.”

Ralf Schumacher (1m14.870s) was only fractionally slower than third-placed Raikkonen and is similarly confident of a strong race.

“It was a good lap,” he said, “but maybe I took it a bit too cautiously in the final sector. Overall though, the performance is there, the car is there, the tyres are there and it could have gone my way. I’m only a tiny margin from the pole and that’s as close as it’s been in a long time. I’m also confident about the car on race fuel levels and so we can be optimistic for tomorrow.”

Behind Schumacher Jr, Nick Heidfeld (1m15.038s) and Mark Webber (1m15.042s) were fifth and sixth respectively with the BMW Williams F1 Team cars.

Gascoyne confirmed that the team’s TF105 chassis is much better suited to the Barcelona circuit than to Imola, scene of the previous race, and added that modifications to the car’s undertray and diffuser have boosted its aerodynamic performance further. The new aerodynamic parts only arrived at the circuit on Thursday night, when the cars were scrutineered as late as possible. They are therefore untested, but such is the team’s confidence in its wind tunnel results that it took an aggressive decision to race them.

“Everyone in the factory did a fantastic job to get the bits here at very short notice,” Gascoyne said. “This level of performance is the reward for that. I think the car is very strong aerodynamically and we just need to improve it slightly mechanically. The more high-speed corners the quicker the car and that’s what you saw here. Jarno struggled a little this morning compared to Ralf, which is why he is pleased with his qualifying lap but not totally happy. We need to be on the front row and then I think we can win. The car has been quick and consistent all weekend and we’ve been fast in every session, so we have no worries about car or tyre consistency.”