SUZUKA, Japan, Oct 10 (AFP) - World champion Michael Schumacher claimed his eighth pole position of the season as he mastered drying conditions here Sunday in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The qualifying session had been postponed from its usual Saturday slot because Typhoon Ma-on had been expected to hit the circuit but teams were able to return here Sunday morning after the storm missed the track.
And Schumacher, who has now claimed pole in six of the last seven races here, was as well prepared as ever as he set a time of one min 33.542 to beat his Williams-BMW-driving brother Ralf by 0.490 secs.
Australian Mark Webber set the third fastest time for Jaguar in what is their penultimate race before they quit the sport but he was 1.029 secs slower than the lead Ferrari.
Home hero Takuma Sato finished fourth fastest for BAR-Honda, just pushing his British team-mate Jenson Button down to fifth with Italian Jarno Trulli claiming sixth on his debut for Toyota in their home race.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella finished seventh for Sauber with Scot David Coulthard in eighth in his McLaren-Mercedes and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve ninth for Renault with French Toyota driver Olivier Panis tenth.
By the time the cars came out the circuit was already drying and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya set the early pace on dry tyres for Williams before Alonso and then Villeneuve bettered his time.
Several of the drivers found the circuit slippery but Brazilian Felipe Massa was the first driver to make a major mistake when he slid off the track at the spoon curve and failed to set a time.
Button then went faster than session leader Villeneuve but Brazilian Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello slid wide in the Casio Triangle before setting a time that would leave him well outside the top ten.
Sato then went faster despite a slide in his final sector then Webber moved ahead with just the two Schumacher brothers and Trulli, who had finished fastest in the pre-qualifying session, left to run.
Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner failed to set a time in the first session after losing control of his Minardi and beaching the car in the gravel and he failed to appear in the second session.
The teams, as usual, will not be allowed to alter their cars before the race and now have just three-and-a-half hours to adapt their strategies for what could by a race in changeable conditions.