Magny-Cours, France ? Michael Schumacher won’t start from the pole in the French Grand Prix as he tries to wrap up a record-tying fifth Formula One racing championship.

Ferrari’s Schumacher finished second in Saturday’s qualifying, while Juan Pablo Montoya won his sixth pole of the season.

The Colombian driver for BMW-Williams clocked a time of 1 minute, 11.985 seconds at the 2.64-mile Nevers Magny-Cours circuit.

It’s the ninth pole of his career.

Schumacher had an adventurous time in qualifying for today’s race.

He missed a turn and drove off the track on his first attempt and had his time wiped out. But after Ferrari mechanics quickly readjusted his F2002 model, the defending Formula One champion went back on course and briefly replaced Montoya in the pole position.

He later had another, slower time deleted due to missing part of a turn.

“I think we’re all having the same problem,” Schumacher said. “It’s so slippery, especially with the heat.”

Schumacher clocked 1:12.008, followed by Rubens Barrichello of Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes, and Ralf Schumacher of BMW-Williams.

Schumacher has a 54-point lead in the season standings. He could clinch this year’s title if he comes in first without either Montoya or Barrichello coming in second.

“I race for pleasure … and we’ve had good fights among the three of us,” Schumacher said. “And I’m looking forward to another one tomorrow.”

Montoya has been on the pole for the last four races but failed to win any of them.

He crashed once and had two engine failures in earlier races and came in third place at the British Grand Prix on July 7. He has not won a race this season.

“We haven’t been able to catch Ferrari in the race, but I think we’ve been working better around here, and we’ll see if that’s good enough to win the race,” Montoya said.

Schumacher has won the French Grand Prix a total of five times.

He hasn’t started from the pole since the Spanish Grand Prix on April 28. He has 86 standings points, followed by Barrichello (32) and Montoya (31).

Juan Manuel Fangio holds the Formula One record of five titles.

Ferrari leads the team standings 118 points, far ahead of BMW-Williams with 61 points, and McLaren-Mercedes with 37 points.