German racer Markus Pommer has taken his first FIA Formula Two Championship pole after edging out Daniel McKenzie by half a tenth of a second in first qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.
McKenzie sat on top for much of the session but was denied his maiden pole by Pommer in the closing stages.
“It feels fantastic, the car was perfect,” said Pommer.
“We ran with two sets of tyres. The first set was to make one good and safe lap and for the second run we decided to go for it and everything went good and now I’m confident for the race.”
After lacking pace in Friday practice, Mihai Marinescu showed his speed by taking P3 at the end of the session. That put him narrowly ahead of Kevin Mirocha, while Matheo Tuscher took fifth.
Debutant Vittorio Ghirelli will start sixth, ahead of championship leader Luciano Bacheta.
Swiss drivers Alex Fontana and Christopher Zanella topped the two practice sessions on Friday, but this time the pair were six tenths off the pace in eighth and ninth places respectively.
Parthiva Sureshwaren has looked quick since the test on Tuesday and used that to take tenth place, at the expense of Dino Zamparelli.
Plamen Kralev and Mauro Calamia were next up, in front of Axcil Jefferies and Max Snegirev.
Hector Hurst was a disappointing 16th after going third fastest in second practice on Friday, while Kourosh Khani was back on track after his heavy practice shunt at Eau Rouge that required his car to be rebuilt.
David Zhu propped up the timesheets after spinning at turn 14 and bringing a halt to the session.
The first race of the weekend takes place at 13:00 BST.
1. Markus Pommer, 2:04.623s
2. Daniel McKenzie, +0.050s
3. Mihai Marinescu, +0.173s
4. Kevin Mirocha, +0.188s
5. Mathéo Tuscher, +0.310s
6. Vittorio Ghirelli, +0.413s
7. Luciano Bacheta, +0.472s
8. Alex Fontana, +0.613s
9. Christopher Zanella, +0.624s
10. Parthiva Sureshwaren, +0.954s
11. Dino Zamparelli, +0.954s
12. Plamen Kralev, +1.463s
13. Mauro Calamia, +1.519s
14. Axcil Jefferies, +1.804s
15. Max Snegirev, +1.819s
16. Hector Hurst, +1.850s
17. Kourosh Khani, +2.604s
18. David Zhu, +2.637s
