Rapax driver Sergey Sirotkin claimed his maiden GP2 pole position after a hard-fought qualifying session at Silverstone.
McLaren protege Stoffel Vandoorne, who led for the majority of the session, looked to have claimed yet another pole position but Sirotkin has other ideas as he set a blistering lap in the closing stages to snatch pole position away.
On his final run Sirotkin cemented his place at the top by improving once again with a 1m39.949s to go more than a tenth up on the championship leader.
Status Grand Prix driver Richie Stanaway, who was running down the order for the majority of the session, found a great deal of pace on his new set of tyres to round out the top three in the closing stages.
Alexander Rossi struggled on his early runs but was able to improve late on to finish fourth. Arthur Pic was fifth ahead of DAMS driver Pierre Gasly in sixth.
Formula Renault 3.5 championship leader Oliver Rowland was briefly running in third on his GP2 qualifying debut but fell down the order slightly as drivers fitted new tyres. He finished in ninth behind Nobuharu Matsushita and Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello.
Campos Racing driver Rio Haryanto, who topped practice, suffered mechanical issues that prevented him form getting out early on in qualifying. The team were able to resolve his issues though and Haryanto left the pits with 16 minutes left in the session.
Once out on track Haryanto was able to pick up where he left off in practice. By setting an identical time to Sergio Canamasas on his first run. He fell down the order late on though finishing 15th.
Alex Lynn could only manage 12th after his final runs were hampered by traffic as several other were jostling for position. Racing Engineering’s Jordan King was just behind in 13th.
Fellow Brit Jon Lancaster failed to set a time following an engine failure which left the GP2 returnee out of the session.