Felipe Massa produced a superb late lap to snatch pole position for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton as Australian Mark Webber qualified in 13th.
The Ferrari driver clocked a time of 1:44.519 seconds in his final lap under the floodlights on the Marina Bay street circuit to finish sixth-tenths of a second faster than McLaren's Hamilton.
Massa's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, despite enduring a frustrating time in practice, finished strongly to take third.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica will start in fourth place on the grid while McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen is in fifth.
"The car was perfect," said Massa. "I managed to do a perfect lap and that always helps when you have a good car."
The result will make for an interesting race on Sunday as Hamilton is just a single point ahead of Massa in the drivers' standings and overtaking is expected to be difficult.
Nick Heidfeld, of BMW Sauber, took sixth place while Italian Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel will start seventh in his Toro Rosso.
Toyota's Timo Glock and Williams duo Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima complete the top 10.
There was, however, bitter disappointment for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso after the Renault driver's qualifying session was brought to a disappointing end.
After promising displays during practice, during which the Spaniard twice clocked fastest times, Alonso's car inexplicably lost power in Q2 to bring an end to his session.
Despite fears the unpredictable tropical climate of Singapore would throw up rain and thunderstorms over the weekend, conditions were dry as the session got under way while concerns over lighting also proved unfounded with the track well lit throughout.
The circuit has, however, proved challenging for the drivers in practice with many commentating on its bumpy surface - highlighted by Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella's car going airborne after hitting a high kerb in practice.
His car never really recovered from that setback and Fisichella unsurprisingly failed to post a timed lap in Q3.
The bumps on the circuit were clear early into qualifying when sparks flew from beneath Webber's (1:45.212) Red Bull as the Australian struggled with the patchy surface.
Honda's Jenson Button, despite a promising performance in the final practice session earlier on Saturday, will start 12th while David Coulthard is two places further back for Red Bull Racing.
Qualifying results, Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix, Singapore
1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:44.801
2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 1:45.465
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:45.617
4. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 1:45.779
5. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 1:45.873
6. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 1:45.964
7. Sebastien Vettel (STR-Ferrari) 1:46.244
8. Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:46.328
9. Nico Rosberg (Williams) 1:46.611
10. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) 1:47.547
Also:
13. Mark Webber (Red-Bull) no time