Ferrari's Felipe Massa secured pole position for Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix for the third year running with a brilliant lap at the very end of qualifying.

The Brazilian, who has also won this race for the last two years, clocked a time of one minute, 27.617 seconds with his final lap.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, given the all clear earlier this week following his high-speed crash at the Spanish GP last month, will join him on the front row with British team-mate Lewis Hamilton in third.

Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari qualified in fourth.

Hamilton struggled for control and pace at the end of the session after choosing to go with harder option tyres in third qualifying, arguably making his qualifying position of third all the more impressive.

But after qualifying he said: "To be honest, I am not too happy. I had a great Q1 but then after a few issues in Q2 I went for the hard tyres - it was the wrong decision, I guess.

"To come through in third is OK, but it was not good enough.

"Still, I think we've a good package. Heikki and I have shown we are up there with the Ferraris, and I think we can match them in the race."

Massa, on the other hand, was understandably thrilled as he said: "It was a great qualifying as I put together a very good lap at the end.

"I just love this track. I get a lot of pleasure from driving on it, and now I will try to have the best race possible and try to do everything right. It won't be easy, though, because our competitors are strong."

After qualifying in second, Kovalainen said of his high speed crash in Spain and his quick return to racing: "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster, surviving without any injuries. I was very lucky.

"Yesterday I felt happy with the car. I've been feeling confident and it's a pleasure to start from the front row.

"Hopefully now I can have a good race."

BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica was down in fifth despite looking to have matched the pace of the Ferraris and McLarens earlier in qualifying, while team-mate Nick Heidfeld qualified in eighth.

Red Bull's Mark Webber impressed in finishing qualifying in sixth, with his team-mate David Coulthard 10th.

Fernando Alonso will start from seventh come race time, with Jarno Trulli eighth in his Toyota.

The qualifying rules were amended following the demise of Super Aguri last week which reduced the field to 20, meaning five instead of six drivers dropped out at the end of each of the first two qualifying sessions.

Qualifying result from the Turkish Grand Prix:

1. Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari one minute, 27.617 secs
2. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:27.808
3. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:27.923
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:27.936
5. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:28.390
6. Mark Webber (Aus) RedBull - Renault 1:28.417
7. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:28.422
8. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:28.836
9. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:28.882
10. David Coulthard (GB) RedBull - Renault 1:29.959
11. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams - Toyota 1:27.012
12. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:27.219
13. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:27.298
14. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:27.412
15. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:27.806
16. Kazuki Nakajima (Jap) Williams - Toyota 1:27.547
17. Nelson Piquet (Bra) Renault 1:27.568
18. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:27.621
19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India - Ferrari 1:27.807
20. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India - Ferrari 1:28.325