Chris Lines, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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OMAYA, Japan - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton tightened his grip on the Formula One title Saturday by claiming pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Luca Bruno

Lewis Hamilton reacts after getting the pole position.

The championship leader and winner here last year took his sixth pole of the season with a time of one minute 18.404 seconds, and will start four grid positions ahead of his title rival Felipe Massa of Ferrari.

Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen was second quickest - putting him on the front row for the first time since the French Grand Prix - with a time 0.24 seconds slower than the Briton.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Renault's Fernando Alonso finished third and fourth in qualifying at the Fuji Speedway.

"I couldn't say it was a perfect qualifying session," said Hamilton. "I'd say it was a step forward from Singapore. My first lap in third qualifying wasn't great but I managed to pull it together on the last lap.

"We're in a perfect position to step forward and make as many points as we can. It's going to be a tough race because Kimi is right there."

Massa's relatively slow time - 0.43 seconds off Hamilton - may hint at the Brazilian carrying a heavier fuel load for Sunday's race and therefore more flexibility in pit strategy.

In the second qualifying session, which is regarded as a more pure measure of relative speed as all cars carry light fuel loads, Massa was quickest with a time 0.175 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

BMW's Robert Kubica was sixth fastest, ahead of the Toyota pair of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock.

Glock in particular had been impressive in both dry and wet practice sessions over Friday and Saturday, and Toyota - whose parent company owns Fuji Speedway - may also be carrying heavier fuel.

The disappointment of Saturday's qualifying was BMW's Nick Heidfeld, who was eliminated in the opening session and will start 16th. The German only won his place with the team for next season after stringent efforts to improve his qualifying performance, but he disappointed again in Japan.

Saturday's pre-qualifying practice was on a track made wet by morning rain, giving teams a chance to fine tune their wet set-ups if the rain arrives for Sunday's race.