Uni-Virtuosi's Luca Ghiotto will start Saturday's Barcelona Formula 2 feature race from pole position after snatching the top spot with a late run.
Ghiotto initially went out after his rivals had set their first quick laps, but complained of an issue after running over the Turn 9 kerbs. Despite that, he still went second with a 1:28.406, losing out to Jack Aitken.
Aitken and Campos team-mate Dorian Boccolacci then proceeded to head out early for their second attempts and with ten minutes of the session remaining, Aitken improved on his best time by 0.051s.
However the strategy didn't work out for the duo who were quickly shuffled down the order as the later runners found additional grip, besting Aitken's provisional pole time.
It was DAMS driver Nicholas Latifi who moved to the front with a 1:28.212, whilst Guan Yu Zhou and Nyck de Vries slotted into second and third with just fractions splitting the top three.
Then came the turn of Ghiotto, who crossed the finish line last to snatch pole from Latifi with a 1:28.031, pipping him by almost two-tenths.
Aitken fell behind ART's De Vries with Ferrari junior Callum Ilott in sixth ahead of McLaren-backed Sergio Sette Camara and Ralph Boschung in eighth.
Boccolacci was ninth with Prema's Mick Schumacher competing the top 10, just over half a second off Ghiotto's pole time.
