Trulli, Glock Bring Toyota Front Row in Bahrain

Toyota’s driver Jarno Trulli managed to snatch the pole position for Sunday’s race, bringing the first pole for the Japanese team since Japan 2005. And that’s not all. Toyota will have both of its cars in the front row, after Timo Glock managed to take the spot behind his colleague.

The first runs of Q3 were dominated by Brawn’s Jenson Button, lapping in 1m 34.044s, followed by Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, with a time of 1m 34.196s. After rolling out in the morning practice with some undisclosed problems to his TF109, Glock made a come back in Q3 and managed to lap in 1m 33.712s.

Moments later, Trulli beat his colleague’s time, managing 1m 33.431s and bringing the Italian his first pole since the race in Indianapolis, in 2005.

Button was pushed further down the grid, being passed by Sebastian Vettel and bringing Red Bull on the second row with a time of 1m 34.015s. The third row is Hamilton’s and Rubens Barrichello’s, the latter managing a time of 1m 34.239s.

Fernando Alonso came in seventh for Renault on 1m 34.578s, ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on 1m 34.818s. Nico Rosberg was ninth in the Williams on 1m 35.134s, the final driver in top ten being Kimi Raikkonen, whose Ferrari came in on 1m 35.380s.

Otherwise, the qualifying took place in perfect weather conditions and without major incidents. The only events in these qualifying starred Kubica's BMW Sauber. A large flash fire at the back of the Sauber was seen during the Q1 and a minor repeat in Q2, but both were quickly put down by the team's fireman.