Suzuka (Japan), Oct 8 (IANS): Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position in the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix qualifying here Saturday while Force India's Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta were 11th and 12th fastest.

Vettel, a point away from winning his second consecutive World Championship title, snatched the pole from McLaren's Jenson Button in the dying minutes of Q3. The German clocked 1 min 30.466 secs to Button's 1:30.475. Lewish Hamilton in the second McLaren was third with 1:30.617.

Sutil and di Resta, with best laps of 1:32.463 and 1:32.746, respectively, were in the hunt for spots in Q3 right till the end of the second session. But Renault's Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi spoiled Force India's chances, grabbing the last three top 10 positions.

Adrian, however, was satisfied with his effort.

"Overall, I think the qualifying session went pretty well. I was a little bit disappointed to miss Q3 because we were not too far away from it, but everybody knows P11 is a very good place to start, especially because of the free choice of tyres for tomorrow. I was happy with my laps and I don't think I could have found much more. Also, we opted to do just one run on the soft tyres in Q2, which means I have a fresh set available for the race," said Sutil.

Rookie driver di Resta was also pleased with his performance on the zippy Suzuka Circuit and said he is confident of collecting some crucial points for the team.

Force India are currently sixth in the Constructor's Championship with 48 points.