Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), Aug 29 (DPA) Italians Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli Saturday said they could not believe it after qualifying for the front row grid for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit
Fisichella sensationally achieved a first-ever pole position for the Force India team, beating Toyota’s Trulli into second place.

Fisichella clocked 1 minute 46.308 seconds for a 7.004-kilometre lap, just 0.087 seconds faster than Trulli.

The 36-year-old Fisichella, for whom Sunday’s pole will be a fourth-career pole and whose previous best qualifying result this season has been 13th place, said he did not know how he achieved the fastest lap.

“I don’t know how I did it. It is unbelievable, I did not expect to be in pole position. During the free practise on Friday I had some small problems but today the car was even better than I expected.

“It’s amazing, it’s fantastic and I am so happy. I did not expect that and now I am confident for tomorrow. This is one of my favourite circuits. I feel so happy and everybody did a fantastic job. Considering our budget we did not expect this,” he said.

Trulli could also not believe that he qualified for the front row. “It is a mystery. We have not done anything on the car since the last few races and here we are suddenly at the top.

“We were going through difficult times because we do not understand how sometimes we struggle so much and sometimes we are so quick, like today.

“It is a very good day and I am very confident for the race. We are going to have a good race tomorrow,” he said.

German Nick Heidfeld in a BMW-Sauber will start from the second row on the grid after posting the third-fastest time, alongside Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello.

Heidfeld, whose future in the sport hangs in the balance after BMW’s announcement that they were withdrawing from the sport at the end of the season, said that qualifying with the third-fastest time was a welcome boost.

“It is very important to all in the team. We said when BMW announced that they were pulling out, that we wanted to end on a high and not what we have been showing.

“We are trying to secure the team - if we can show that we have a strong team, this could be easier.”

The third row on the grid belongs to Robert Kubica in a BMW and Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari, while the second Toyota of Timo Glock and Sebastian Vettel in a Red Bull will start from the fourth row.

The final two places in the top ten belong to Vettel’s tam-mate Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg in a Williams.

Several of the top drivers fell out of the hunt for a pole position in the second qualifying round with championship leader Jenson Button in a Brawn GP, former world champion Fernando Alonso in a Renault and the defending world champion Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes all failing to progress to the final round.

Button leads the championship on 72 points after 11 of 17 season races with his Brazilian team-mate Barrichello on 54.

Red Bull drivers Webber and Vettel are third and fourth with 51.5 and 47 points respectively.