Jarno Trulli salvaged what was shaping up to be a miserable weekend for the Toyota team by winning the pole yesterday for the United States Grand Prix.

Trulli timed 1 minute, 10.625 seconds around the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to earn the first pole for Toyota.

It was the third pole of Trulli's career – first this season – and first since the Belgium Grand Prix in 2004.

The Italian had to hold off late runs by Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to keep the top starting spot.

Raikkonen, the final driver to qualify and winner last weekend of the Canadian Grand Prix, almost snatched the pole away but finished second in a McLaren-Mercedes with a time of 1 minute, 10.694 seconds.

The Toyota team then celebrated its first good news of the weekend. Earlier yesterday, Ralf Schumacher wasn't medically cleared to race because of a hard hit he took when he wrecked his car during a practice session.

Ricardo Zonta, Toyota's test driver, also wrecked on Friday and both accidents were attributed to tire failure. That left Michelin officials scrambling to figure out what was wrong with its tires, and scrambling to ship a fresh batch from its France warehouse to replace the rubber already on site in what the supplier was calling a safety precaution.

Trulli showed no fear on his tires, speeding around the 13-turn course and taking his Toyota to the top.

Jenson Button, the polesitter last weekend in the Canadian GP, qualified his BAR-Honda third.

Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth in a Renault, followed by Schumacher, the two-time defending race winner. World championship points leader Fernando Alonso was sixth in a Renault.

Zonta, the replacement driver for Ralf Schumacher, wound up 13th.