BARCELONA, April 26: Ferrari’s world champion Kimi Raikkonen denied home hero Fernando Alonso a stunning Spanish Grand Prix pole position on Saturday to set himself up as favourite for Sunday’s race.

The 115,000-strong crowd gave Alonso a standing ovation after Renault’s double world champion pulled out all the stops at the Circuit de Catalunya only to be pipped by the Finn in the dying seconds by 0.091.

The pole was championship leader Raikkonen’s first of the season and the 15th of his Formula One career.

It was also the first time the sport has had two champions together on the front row since Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher retired in 2006.

Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Friday and won the previous race in Bahrain, qualified third with BMW Sauber’s Polish driver Robert Kubica alongside in fourth place.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, last year’s overall runner-up in his rookie season, shared the third row with Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen as the Mercedes-powered team continued to look ill at ease.

Raikkonen will be expected to secure Ferrari’s third win in a row in Sunday’s race, given that the driver on pole position in Barcelona has won for the past seven years.

The Finn was also the fourth different driver in four races to take pole position.

Alonso’s position was as unexpected as it was welcome for a Spanish crowd primed in advance by the 26-year-old not to expect anything special on Sunday after a difficult start.

Starting grid:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari; 2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault; 3. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari; 4. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber; 5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren; 6. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren; 7. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault; 8. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota; 9. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber; 10. Nelsinho Piquet (Brazil) Renault; 11. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda; 12. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams-Toyota; 13. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda; 14. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota; 15. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams-Toyota; 16. Sibastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso-Ferrari; 17. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull-Renault; 18. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso-Ferrari; 19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India-Ferrari; 20. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Ferrari; 21. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri-Honda; 22. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri-Honda.—Agencies