Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello scorched into pole position for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix at the A1 Ring ahead of Williams' Ralf Schumacher.

But world champion Michael Schumacher was pushed into third, the first time he has not started on the front row of the grid since Monza in September 2001.

Barrichello led for much of the second half of the one-hour qualifying session following a delay for an oil slick caused by Jarno Trulli's engine exploding.

In dry, sunny conditions the Brazilian extended his fastest lap to 1:08.062 despite heavy traffic with Ralf Schumacher lapping in 1:08 362.

"This is great and I feel really confident about the race tomorrow," said Barrichello.

"It was quite a busy session with everybody out there at the end.

"My heart rate must have gone up to 200 when I saw the Toyota because I thought there was a big crash coming but fortunately I had the speed to avoid it."

Schumacher senior, forced into the spare car for his last attempt, clocked 1:08.704 after having spun off in an earlier lap.

"I think we had a problem with the race car so we switched to the 'T' car," he said.

"I also lost the back-end on one of the runs, but it is a long race tomorrow so let's see what happens."

Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya - also in a spare car - was fourth with a time of 1:09.118.

Germany's Nick Heidfeld, in a Sauber, will start in fifth place after a time of 1:09.129, with Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren-Mercedes (1:09.154) in sixth.

David Coulthard finished in eighth place and will start on the fourth row of the grid with fellow Britons Jenson Button and Allan McNish back in row seven.

Four-time world champion Michael Schumacher has claimed three poles this season and secured second twice - behind Montoya in Brazil and Barrichello in Australia.

Schumacher leads the championship with four wins out of five races.

He is 21 points ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya with the Colombian's team-mate Ralf Schumacher third, three points further back.

1. R Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari - 1 min 08.062sec
2. R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW - 1:08.364
3. M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari - 1:08.704
4. J P Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 1:09.118
5. N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber-Petronas 1:09.129
6.K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:09.154
7. F Massa (Bra) Sauber-Petronas 1:09.228
8. D Coulthard (GBR) McLaren-Mercedes 1:09.335
9. O Panis (Fra) BAR-Honda 1:09.561
10. M Salo (Fin) Toyota 1:09.661
11. H-H Frentzen (Ger) Arrows-Cosworth 1:09.671
12. E Bernoldi (Bra) Arrows-Cosworth 1:09.723
13. J Button (Gbr) Renault 1:09.780
14. A McNish (Gbr) Toyota 1:09.818
15. G Fisichella (Ita) Jordan-Honda 1:09.901
16. J Trulli (Ita) Renault 1:09.980
17. J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda 1:10.051
18. T Sato (Jpn) Jordan-Honda 1:10.058
19. P de la Rosa (Spa) Jaguar-Cosworth 1:10.533
20. E Irvine (Gbr) Jaguar-Cosworth 1:10.741
21. M Webber (Aus) Minardi-Asiatech 1:11.388
22. A Yoong (Mas) Minardi-Asiatech 1:12.336