Francesco Bagnaia claimed his second pole of the season in a red-flagged Moto2 qualifying, with Marcel Schrotter 0.073 seconds behind.
Championship leader Bagnaia came into qualifying fastest of all after maintaining his practice dominance in FP3 with a 1:37.930s, though was only 0.075s clear of the field.
Gresini's Jorge Navarro was the initial pacesetter in the session with a 1:38.034s, though his qualifying came to a crunching halt when he destroyed his motorcycle in a crash at Turn 8 with 20 minutes remaining.
Bagnaia relieved Navarro of top spot just moments after the Spaniard went fastest, the Sky VR46 setting the benchmark at 1:37.608s.
Schrotter – who he re-signed with the Intact GP team for 2019 – put the Italian's provisional pole lap under pressure, but was 0.073s shy, with Luca Marini a further 0.008s back in third.
The session came to a halt with just under four minutes remaining after SIC Racing rider Niki Tuuli suffered a highside exiting the Strubben, and needed to be helped off track. He has been taken to the medical centre for checks.
Qualifying was restarted, but no one was able to make any major improvements on their earlier laptimes, leaving Bagnaia unchallenged for pole.
Schrotter tallied up his third-successive front row start in second, while Valentino Rossi's half brother Marini dragged his Sky VR46 Kalex to his first front row in Moto2.
Alex Marquez heads row two despite crashing with six minutes to go at Ruskenhoek, with Xavi Vierge and Sam Lowes within eight hundredths of the Marc VDS rider.
Catalunya race winner and poleman Fabio Quartararo will launch from seventh on his Speed Up machine, with Andrea Locatelli securing his best Moto2 qualifying result in eighth, three spots ahead of Italtrans teammate Mattia Pasini.
Navarro clung onto ninth despite his crash, while Joan Mir completed the top 10 ahead of Pasini and Khairul Idham Pawi, who takes his best Saturday result in 12th.
Once again Miguel Oliveria's qualifying form deserted him, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider starting from 17th for a second race in a row.
Honda Team Asia's Tetsuta Nagashima was forced to miss qualifying after injuring his wrist in a crash in practice on Friday, and will undergo surgery in Barcelona on Saturday.
