Michael Schumacher after qualifying fourth on Saturday. (Reuters)

Magny-Cours: Narain Karthikeyan made full use of a familiar track as he emerged as the best rookie in qualifying 17th for Sunday’s French Grand Prix. The Indian driver in a Jordan car covered the Magny-Cours circuit in one minute, 17.857 seconds as he easily outpaced his teammate Tiago Monteiro.

Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who leads the Drivers’ standings with 59 points, won his third pole position of the season clocking 1:14.412 during Saturday’s qualifying.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli came second (1:14.521) and McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen (1.14.559) third. In fourth place was Germany’s defending champion Michael Schumacher whose fastest lap timed 1:14.572 seconds.

Earlier, both Monteiro and Karthikeyan completed installation laps in the first session due to damp conditions. Monteiro also experienced a gear box issue, which was solved for the last free practice, during which the drivers spent time further developing their chassis set-ups for both the afternoon’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race.

The Indian driver was happy that he managed to pip his teammate. “I had a good lap for qualifying today considering I was using the old car set-up. I am quite pleased with the work we have done today. My qualifying lap was clear and that gives me a good position on the grid ahead of my teammate,” he said.

Karthikeyan admitted that he made some mistakes but was overall satisfied with his performance. “I have made some mistakes, which cost me a little bit of time but generally it was a clean lap. I am overall relatively satisfied with my qualifying lap and the balance of my cars. We will now see how it goes tomorrow.

“With the region’s unpredictable weather conditions, I am hopeful of an exciting race. One thing I know, is that I want to finish the race here in Magny-Cours and demonstrate the reliability of the car. The track was a little greasy this morning, so I was being cautious".

QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:14.412; 2. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:14.521; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 1:14.559; 4. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 1:14.572; 5. Takuma Sato (Japan) BAR 1:14.655; 6. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 1:14.832; 7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:14.887; 8. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR 1:15.051; 9. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 1:15.406; 10. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Sauber 1:15.566; 11. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) Sauber 1:15.699; 12. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1:15.771; 13. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams 1:15.885; 14. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Williams 1:16.207; 15. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 1:16.434; 16. Christian Klien (Austria) Red Bull; 1:16.547; 17. Narain Karthikeyan (India) Jordan 1:17.857; 18. Patrick Friesacher (Austria) Minardi 1:17.960; 19. Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) Jordan 1:18.047; 20. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Minardi 1:18.335.