Italian Jarno Trulli seized pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday with Toyota team mate Timo Glock qualifying in second place for the team's first front row sweep.
Red Bull's young German Sebastian Vettel, winner in the wet in China last weekend, will start Sunday's race in third place with championship leader Jenson Button alongside in his Mercedes-powered Brawn GP.
The pole was the fourth of Trulli's Formula One career and first since Indianapolis in 2005, a race he did not start and that turned into a six-car fiasco after problems with the Michelin tyres.
Toyota have yet to win a race in 126 attempts since their debut in 2002 but, depending on the drivers' respective fuel levels, Sunday could represent their best chance yet of ending that run.
The driver starting on pole position has won the last five Grands Prix.
McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton, whose team risk heavy sanctions at a hearing in Paris next week for lying to race stewards at the Australian season-opener, qualified a strong fifth.
Champions Ferrari, still without a point and in danger of slumping to their worst ever start to a season, had Brazilian Felipe Massa eighth and Kimi Raikkonen 10th.
The biggest disappointment of the afternoon was suffered by Red Bull's Mark Webber, with the Australian due to start on the back row after being blocked in the first session by Force India's Adrian Sutil.
"You don't usually get caught out in traffic and that was the worst corner to get blocked. Absolute disaster...my race is screwed," Webber told BBC television.
"I didn't know Mark Webber was on a flying lap. I was trying to leave space for [Fernando] Alonso. I think there was a little misunderstanding. We will have to wait and see what happens," said Sutil.
© 2024 Rediff.com -