Alexander Albon will start the British round of the GP3 Series Feature Race from pole position, a first for the ART Grand Prix driver.
The eventful session began under drizzly conditions at Silverstone with an early red flag caused by Dams' Kevin Joerg after he went into the barriers on a greasy circuit. The session quickly resumed with Konstantin Tereschenko heading the times.
The rain caught several others out including Antonio Fuoco who took a trip through the gravel and Nirei Fukuzumi who span before recovering and continuing.
With the rain abating, the switch to slicks beckoned and the times began to fall with the pole sitter changing regularly.
A second red flag was caused by Haas junior Santino Ferrucci who made light contact with Charles Leclerc, damaging the ART driver's front-wing whilst puncturing Ferrucci's tyre, causing him to stop on track.
Before that, Albon had set the quickest time and as the session restarted, the rain began to fall heavier, guaranteeing Albon's maiden pole.
He qualified ahead of Leclerc who will drop to seventh with a five-place penalty, therefore handing Sandy Stuvik a front-row slot ahead of Arjun Maini on his debut and Matevos Isaakyan in fourth.
Jake Hughes starts fifth ahead of Fuoco, Leclerc, Fukuzumi, Ralph Boschung and Giuliani Alesi.
Akash Nandy qualified eighth, but starts 13th with his grid penalty.
A number of drivers had their quickest times deleted due to a "zero tolerance" to track limits.