Barrichello delighted the home crowd by snatching pole

The Ferrari driver has had 10 straight retirements in previous Brazilian GPs.

But he eclipsed world champion and team-mate Michael Schumacher by 0.168 seconds to clock one minute 11.166.

Schumacher finished the session second with McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen completing the top three and Britain's Jenson Button taking fourth.

"Listening to the reaction of the crowd brought a smile to my face," said Barrichello, back in his home town of Sao Paulo after winning two races this season.

"Now we just have to keep our cool and try and improve the car even more and I am sure we will be competitive for the rest of the weekend."

Being first and second is a wonderful start to the weekend Michael Schumacher

In the first practice Montoya set the fastest lap with his final lap of the one-hour session, an effort of 1:12.547.

The second session began badly for Raikkonen, the Finn spinning just four minutes in.

But he became the first driver to lap within 1min 12secs when he went fastest 25 minutes into the session.

Scotland's David Coulthard showed encouraging signs early in the afternoon, but could not sustain his progress and finished in a disappointing 15th.

Schumacher was uninspiring in the first session and started the second slowly before finding his touch midway through.

"I am not sure where we are in terms of consistency of performance, but over a single lap we look very strong," said the German.

"The track is very bumpy, which adds to the difficulty, but all in all we are looking good and should be in the fight for the win.

"Being first and second is a wonderful start to the weekend."

First practice times:

1: JP Montoya, Williams 1:12.547
2: R Briscoe, Toyota 1:12.614
3: R Schumacher, Williams 1:12.873
4: K Raikkonen, McLaren 1:13.150
5 : A Davidson, BAR 1:13.232

Second practice times: