Teenager Matheo Tuscher will look to claim his maiden FIA Formula Two Championship race win later today (Saturday) after recording his third pole position of the season in qualifying at Paul Ricard.
Christopher Zanella opted to use his fresh tyres at the start of the session and lead the way early on, but this decision saw him slip down the order later on.
Tuscher would take top spot away from him, and although Markus Pommer briefly went quicker, Tuscher improved to a 1m53.023 in the closing minutes of the session.
“We opted to start on old tyres before making the switch onto new ones,” explained the 15-year-old Swiss driver. “We found a good set-up in practice and worked closely with my engineer and manager.
“I’m looking forward to the race. Hopefully today will be the day I can convert my pole into my first win but we will see, but the main thing is just to keep taking plenty of points.”
Pommer's time was good enough for second, 0.190s behind Tuscher. Daniel McKenzie moved up into third place at the end, edging out championship leader and fellow Englishman Luciano Bacheta.
Zanella finished up down in fifth, with Dino Zamparelli missing out on his time by just six thousandths of a second and having to settle for sixth.
Friday pacesetter Alex Fontana took seventh, with Brands Hatch winners Mihai Marinescu and Kevin Mirocha separated by just 0.002s in their battle over eighth. Plamen Kralev took tenth, ahead of Hector Hurst, Mauro Calamia, Axcil Jefferies and David Zhu.
Saturday's race takes place at 12:50 BST, live on Motors TV and formula2.com.