Nico Rosberg has beaten Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Japanese GP by less than a tenth of a second.
In one of the closest sessions of the year, Rosberg edged out Hamilton, ahead in their opening Q3 runs, by the slender margin of two hundredths of a second.
It's the tenth time this year that Mercedes have locked out the front row for a race.
Rosberg, who leads the world championship by 23 points, has appeared to hold a small advantage over Hamilton all weekend but had to deliver an inch-perfect lap to prevail in their battle for pole. Mercedes calculated the difference in lap time between their two drivers to be worth 82 centimeters of the legendary Suzuka circuit.
"I was going well the whole weekend," said Rosberg. "That's what allows me to put a lap in like that."
On the track and in the record books, Hamilton and Rosberg have never been closer. The pair have both claimed pole position eight times this year and Rosberg's latest success closes his overall qualifying deficit to Hamilton during their partnership at Mercedes to 29-31.
But all is far from lost for Hamilton this weekend. The world champion has never qualified on pole position at Suzuka but on Sunday will be seeking to claim his third successive victory in Japan from second on the grid.
"I'm happy with qualifying," said Hamilton. "It's been a weekend a lot of work, getting the set-up right, some big changes went into qualifying.
"Considering that, to be that close, I was really happy with it."
Led by Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari beat Red Bull to the second row, although Sebastian Vettel will have to surrender his position to Max Verstappen, a tenth faster than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, due to the grid penalty hanging over the four-time world champion from his clash with Rosberg at the start in Malaysia.
The ever-impressive Sergio Perez was seventh for Force India but set an identical lap time in Q3 as the surprise package of Haas' Romain Grosjean. Perez will be given the higher starting position courtesy of setting his lap before the Frenchman.
When is the Japanese GP on Sky F1?
Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez rounded off the top ten on a day when almost the entire grid qualified next to their team-mate and the biggest difference between sister cars amounted to just two grid slots.
Of the 22 drivers on show, only Perez, Grosjean, Fernando Alonso and Jolyon Palmer, steadily improving at Renault, managed to put clear daylight between them and their team-mates.
Jenson Button suffered the indignity of elimination at the first hurdle, exiting Q1 at McLaren-Honda's home race. Worse, it wasn't even a surprise: Button has struggled all weekend on a circuit which, ironically, highlights rather than disguises the weaknesses of the McLaren package. Alonso fared only slightly better, reaching the modest heights of 15th, two places ahead of Button.
Japanese GP Qualifying
1 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:30.647
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes + 0.013
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, + 0.302
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, + 0.381 *
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, + 0.531
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, + 0.593
7. Sergio Perez, Force India, + 1.314
8. Romain Grosjean, Haas, + 1.314
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, + 1.495
10. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1.900
Eliminated in Q2
11. Valtteri Bottas, Williams
12. Felipe Massa, Williams
13. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso
14. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso
15. Fernando Alonso, McLaren
16. Jolyon Palmer, Renault
Eliminated in Q1
17. Jenson Button, McLaren
18. Kevin Magnussen, Renault
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber
20. Felipe Nasr, Sauber
21. Esteban Ocon, Manor
22. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor
* Vettel to take three-place penalty for causing a collision in the Malaysia GP