Christian Lundgaard has placed his ART on pole position for the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race at Mugello.
The Danish driver’s time was only 0.005 seconds ahead of Dan Ticktum’s DAMS, who had made it to the front row.
Championship leader Callum Ilott will start third in front of Marcus Armstrong, achieving his best F2 qualifying grid spot in fourth.
Felipe Drugovich continued to shine in fifth for MP Motorsport, with Jehan Daruvala, Juri Vips and Luca Ghiotto in sixth, seventh and eighth.
Three-time race winner this year Robert Shwartzman is ninth and Jack Aitken rounding out the top ten in the Campos.
Yuki Tsunoda struggled to 11th while a mistake from Mick Schumacher on his first run left the German with floor damage and starting no better than 15th.
Pole position means Lundgaard has closed the gap between himself and Ilott to 29 points.
The Feature Race gets underway on Saturday afternnon at 15:45 BST.