Schumacher earns fourth pole in quest for record-tying start

BARCELONA, Spain -- Michael Schumacher captured the pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, where he will try to win his fifth straight race to start the Formula One season.

The six-time series champion on Sunday will be looking to equal Nigel Mansell's record start in 1992. Schumacher has won this race the last three years and five times overall.

"It is a track I like, with a lot of high-speed corners," he said.

The Ferrari star was timed in 1 minute, 15.022 seconds Saturday on the 2.876-mile Circuit de Catalunya. It was his 59th pole position and fourth this season. Ayrton Senna holds the career record with 65 poles.

Schumacher won the season's first three poles before Jenson Button of BAR-Honda prevailed at the San Marino GP. Schumacher took the Spanish pole last year in 1:17.762.

Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams-BMW was second Saturday in 1:15.639, followed by Takuma Sato of BAR-Honda in 1:15.809. Button was 14th after briefly going off the track on his lap.

"Sometimes these things happen," Button said.

Schumacher and Montoya will be on the front row, which could make for an intriguing start. The two had a close encounter at the San Marino GP, where the Colombian briefly was pushed off the track. Schumacher claimed he didn't see him.

"We had an interesting fight at Imola, and we will find out whether we have one tomorrow," Schumacher said. "It's part of racing. It is a tight business."

The German leads the standings with a perfect 40 points in four races. Teammate Rubens Barrichello is second at 24, followed by Button (23) and Montoya (18).

Also Saturday, the Spanish GP extended its contract with Formula One until 2011, but the agreement is subject to looming tobacco legislation. The race has been at this track outside Barcelona since 1991.

Formula One has agreed to drop tobacco funding by the end of October 2006. But the European Union has moved to ban it on July 31, 2005. Five teams rely heavily on tobacco advertising: BAR-Honda, Jordan, McLaren, Renault and Ferrari. As a result, Formula One has been looking elsewhere for races, especially outside Europe.