Pascal Wehrlein claimed his maiden F3 pole position in qualifying for the joint European-British championship round at the Norisring, while Raffaele Marciello recorded the best second-fastest laptime to start the weekend's first race from first on the grid.
Young German driver Wehrlein moved ahead at the end of the 30 minute session, which had been rescheduled to Saturday morning after damage to the circuit in sweltering conditions in Nuremberg on Friday.
He edged out Marciello for the fastest time by 0.020 seconds to claim pole for Sunday's third and final race, while William Buller took third spot ahead of Daniel Juncadella.
Marciello's second-fastest time was good enough to beat Wehrlein to top spot in the classification for the first race of the weekend, with Juncadella beating Buller to third.
Pietro Fantin proved to be the fastest of the British championship runners and took fifth on the grid for both races, while Emil Bernstorff impressed on his way to sixth.
Felix Serralles edged out Fortec teammate Pipo Derani for the seventh best time, with Michael Lewis and Hannes van Asseldonk rounding out the top ten.
Carlos Sainz Jr, who lies third in the standings for the FIA European, Euro Series and British championships, managed only the 11th best time, though his second fastest lap was good enough for seventh on the Race 1 grid ahead of van Asseldonk, Derani and Lewis.
British championship leader Jazeman Jaafar was 13th, with rival Jack Harvey down in 17th.
