Alexander Albon took his second pole position of the season to extend his GP3 Series championship lead by pocketing the four bonus points available during qualifying.
The ART Grand Prix driver clocked a best laptime of 1:28.431 which was 0.078s ahead of his team-mate and closest title rival Charles Leclerc.
Arden International’s Jake Dennis achieved his best qualifying result of his debut season to start third on the grid.
The 30-minute session got going under glorious sunshine at the Hockenheimring for Round 5 of the 2016 season, with DAMS driver Santino Ferrucci the first to lap under the 1m30 mark before Leclerc lapped half a second quicker to go top.
Albon bettered his team-mate’s time by 0.063s to take P1 with Jack Aitken second in the early stages. Koiranen GP’s Ralph Boschung was also on a flier and lapped a mere 0.004s slower than Albon to take over P2.
With most drivers returning to the pitlane for new Pirelli rubber, the track was almost clear which Matthew Parry took full advantage of. The Briton posted the fastest lap, to take provisional pole, 0.035s ahead of Albon at the midway point.
Campos Racing’s Steijn Schothorst flew to the top of the timesheet and was first to set a laptime in the 1m28’s before Dennis and then Albon lapped quicker to demote the Dutchman to third. Leclerc was outside of the top ten and on one of his last runs; he ran wide and had a small trip through the gravel but was able to continue.
With a few minutes remaining Albon led the pack over Dennis and De Vries but the Monegasque driver found some more pace to rise up the order to grab second position in the dying moments.
At the chequered flag, Albon held on to take his second pole of the campaign ahead of his fierce rival Leclerc. Dennis, De Vries, Antonio Fuoco, Parry, Nirei Fukuzumi, Alex Palou, Schothorst and Aitken completed the top ten.
