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Istanbul: Ferrari's Felipe Massa set his sights on a Turkish Grand Prix hat-trick after taking pole position for the third year in a row on Saturday. The Brazilian, winner in 2006 and 2007 at the anti-clockwise Istanbul Park circuit, will have Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren alongside him on the front row today with the Finn coming back strongly from a heavy crash in Spain.
"I think I put together a very good lap," said Massa of his 11th pole in Formula One, second of the season and Ferrari's 198th since 1950.
"I'm just so happy to come here for the third time with Ferrari and be on pole for the third time. It would be fantastic to repeat that [win] tomorrow.
"I'm looking forward to try and have the best race possible. It won't be easy, we know our competitors are quite strong but close," added the Brazilian, whose team are chasing their fourth successive win.
Every Turkish Grand Prix so far has been won from pole position.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was third quickest with Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen joining the 23-year-old Briton on the second row.
Raikkonen, winner in Turkey with McLaren in 2005, leads Hamilton by nine points in the championship after four races. Kovalainen, who was knocked unconscious and spent a night in hospital after crashing in the previous race in Barcelona, was delighted to have secured the first front-row start of his career.
Roller-coaster ride
"It's been a bit of a roller-coaster over the last couple of weeks," said the Finn, who likened the effect of his accident to being hit over the head with a baseball bat.
"Already yesterday I felt very happy with my car and I've been feeling confident all the time," he added. "It's a pleasure to start from the front row."
Hamilton, who stayed on the harder tyres for the final session when others were on softer rubber, said he had made the wrong choice and was disappointed with the outcome.
"I chose the wrong tyre and it didn't give me the performance and the car didn't feel great," said the Briton, who said earlier in the week that he missed winning and intended to rectify that today.
"I think tomorrow we just have to wait and see. For sure, we are not in the best position to do so," he added when asked whether he thought he could still win.
"I don't feel that I made any mistakes, I did the best I could with the car. That's the quickest it could have gone. "But we need to improve in terms of preparing and making decisions."
Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso was seventh in a Renault and Italian Jarno Trulli took the eighth spot for Toyota.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello will start his record 257th grand prix in 12th place for Honda.
pole position
1. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1 min 27.617 secs; 2. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1:27.808; 3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:27.923; 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:27.936; 5. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:28.390; 6. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:28.417; 7. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:28.422; 8. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:28.836; 9. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:28.882; 10. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 1:29.959; 11. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:27.012; 12. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1:27.219; 13. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:27.298; 14. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:27.412; 15. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1:27.806; 16. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams - Toyota 1:27.547; 17. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1:27.568; 18. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:27.621; 19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India - Ferrari 1:27.807; 20. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India - Ferrari 1:28.325.
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