After Trulli’s pole position at the ill-fated US Grand Prix, this is the second time that the team has topped the qualifying times this year. The weather forecasting of yesterday proved to be perfectly accurate and the drivers faced a greasy track after morning rain at Suzuka, with those going last in the session affected by heavy rain.

Schumacher was 13th of those to run and got out just before the heavy rain. He immediately served notice of intent by posting a new first sector best. He kept the lap together well in the tricky second sector to record 1m46.106s, which beat Jenson Button’s Lucky Strike BAR Honda to pole position by 0.035s. It means that Toyota and Honda powered cars will share the front row of the grid for the first time ever – appropriately enough in the Japanese Grand Prix!

“It’s fantastic to be able to give Toyota pole position at its home Grand Prix,” Ralf said. “The surface was incredibly slippery and it was a fine line between getting the best out of the car and pushing too hard. But we got it just right and I’m delighted that it has finally come right for me. I haven’t had the best of luck this year and I was joking with my mechanics that Jarno would get his lap in and then it would start raining!

“After yesterday and today we felt that we had every chance of being strong and so our strategy is fairly aggressive and we have no reason to believe that we cannot go out and try to win the race. It might just happen, especially with some of the faster cars at the back of the grid.”

A combination of the conditions and the one-lap qualifying format, which sees the podium finishers at the previous race running last in qualifying, meant that new world champion Fernando Alonso and both Team McLaren Mercedes cars were hit by the worst of the conditions and will have to work their way through the field from the back of the grid.

The biggest obstacle to Schumacher giving Toyota its first ever win could be Giancarlo Fisichella’s Mild Seven Renault, which qualified third quickest with a lap in 1m46.276s. The Italian, who won the opening ’05 race in Melbourne, is confident about his chances of a second win but his approach will be tempered by having to carry the weight of Renault’s constructors championship hopes on his shoulders.

Christian Klien’s Red Bull was fourth fastest (1m46.464), with Takuma Sato (1m46.841s) fifth for BAR Honda and David Coulthard (1m46.892s) sixth with the second of the Red Bulls.

Trulli, meanwhile, will start the race 19th on the grid, in company with the McLarens and Alonso.

“It’s very frustrating to have this happen here after all the strong qualifying sessions we have had this year,” the Italian said. “But I found the car difficult to handle this weekend both in the wet and the dry. All I can do now is concentrate on taking every opportunity that comes my way in the race and try to come through the field to score points.”

Technical Director, Chassis, Mike Gascoyne, said: “Jarno unfortunately went off at the Degner Curve but Ralf did a fine job to take pole position on a very difficult surface and we can now look forward to a strong race. Both drivers believe that the TF105B, which we are racing for the first time here, will be a stronger and more consistent performer over a race distance, so now we look forward to a strong race in front of the Japanese fans.”