Schumacher sets pace in San Marino

Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the weekend so far in final practice for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

The Ferrari driver is closing in on a new record for pole positions, and he can eclipse Ayrton Senna's mark of 65 at the track where the Brazilian was killed 12 years ago.

And Schumacher gave Ferrari's home fans hope of that history-making pole with a blistering performance on Saturday morning.

His lap of one minute 23.787 seconds was comfortably quicker than Friday's best and kept world champion Fernando Alonso at bay in second place. The Renault driver was a quarter of a second adrift.

Giancarlo Fisichella confirmed Renault's pace with third place while the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa was fractionally slower in fourth.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, whose team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya failed to set a lap, took fifth and Toyota's Ralf Schumacher was sixth.

Jenson Button admitted his Honda needed improvement after Friday's practice and he clocked up the laps on Saturday morning in a bid to eke out more speed.

The Englishman improved steadily through the session and after 23 laps he was seventh, within a second of Schumacher. David Coulthard was 13th for Red Bull.

Vitantonio Liuzzi, returning to the scene of his only Formula One point, spun on his way to 10th for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Another Formula One newcomer, Nico Rosberg, also showed his inexperience late in the session. The German lost control of his Williams at turn six and bounced across the grass until running out of space and slamming into a tyre wall.

Rookie Yuji Ide, who has been under pressure after a difficult start to his Formula One career, continued to struggle. The Japanese driver spun his Super Aguri on his very first lap of the day.

He spun twice more in the same place during an error-strewn hour but improved his lap time on his way to 21st, over five seconds down on Schumacher.