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FUJI SPEEDWAY, Japan : Lewis Hamilton edged Felipe Massa in Friday's practice sessions for the Japan Grand Prix, but there was little to separate the two rivals as they battle for the world championship.
While they only had eyes for each other, the surprise star in the foothills of Mount Fuji was Toyota's Timo Glock, who clocked the fastest lap during the second practice ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso, the winner in Singapore.
McLaren's Hamilton, who topped the first practice, was just one-tenth of a second ahead of the Brazilian in his Ferrari during the morning session.
That gap shrunk to just 0.028 seconds as the pair finished third and fourth respectively in the 90-minute afternoon practice.
Hamilton leads Massa by seven points in the title race with three Grand Prix remaining, and the Brazilian is eager to bounce back after a Ferrari pit stop blunder in Singapore turned an almost certain win into a 13th-place finish.
The Briton, who won the first Formula One race at Fuji Speedway in 30 years when he dominated in atrocious conditions last year, was just 0.080 seconds behind Glock and said he had no complaints.
"Fuji is a place I really enjoy, it's not the easiest of tracks because it requires a good set-up to get the best from the car, but I had no complaints today," he said.
"We were immediately on the pace and found a very good balance straight away. In the afternoon, I did a promising longer run with no major problems and I feel confident about our pace for the rest of the weekend."
Massa was equally happy, and reiterated that his only goal here was to win.
"I am pleased with this first day in Japan. The balance of the car is very good, both on the first timed lap and over a distance," he said.
"The times are very close and maybe I could have been a bit further up the order in the afternoon session if I had not encountered traffic on my last run on the soft tyres.
"I really want to do well this weekend and we will try and win and bring home the best result possible for the two championships."
Glock, who was just 18th in the morning on his first visit to the venue, recorded the fastest time of the day, clocking a 1min 18.383secs lap to give circuit owners Toyota an unexpected boost.
He was understandably delighted.
"That was a good day. I had a nice lap near the beginning of the session and it's great for the team to end up quickest on Friday here in Japan," said the 26-year-old.
"So far I'm happy and it would be nice to keep the position like this for the whole weekend. That will obviously be difficult but hopefully the local fans will give us an extra boost."
Williams' Japanese star Kazuki Nakajima gave the sparse crowd at Fuji something more to smile about, finishing in the top 10 in both sessions.
But a home race failed to improve Honda's dismal 2008 season, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello running near the bottom of the timesheets all day.
The top seven cars in the afternoon run all set times equal to or faster than Hamilton's best time last year of 1:18.734, recorded on the only dry day of the 2007 event.
There were several minor incidents, as Mark Webber, Sebastian Bourdais, Sebastian Vettel, Glock, Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella and Rubens Barrichello all ventured briefly off course.
Showers are forecast for Saturday morning's hour-long free practice session, but Sunday's race day is predicted to be dry.
- AFP/so
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