Anthoine Hubert claimed pole position for GP3's Feature Race, snatching it away from ART team-mate Nikita Mazepin in the final minutes of qualifying.
Both drivers traded sector times with a rampant pace as the session neared its climax with the French driver clinching the top spot to increase his championship lead by four points courtesy of his pole position.
The Campos of Leonardo Pulcini narrowly missed out on a front row start by less than half a tenth of a second, splitting the ART quartet as Jake Hughes will line-up fourth on the grid, ahead of Callum Ilott.
Two Tridents will make up sixth and seventh in the shape of Ryan Tveter and new team-mate David Beckmann, who joined from Jenzer Motorsport last week as Alessio Lorandi moved up to Formula 2.
MP Motorsport's Dorian Boccolacci could only manage eighth on the grid ahead of the Arden of Joey Mawson in ninth and Juan Manuel Correa, who edged Jenzer team-mate Tatiana Calderon out of the top 10 in the dying moments of the session.
Niko Kari will be starting from the back of the grid provided MP Motorsport can fix his broken Dallara GP3/16 after colliding with Mazepin in the opening five minutes of the session.
The Finnish driver was on a hot lap when he ran wide on the exit of Turn 4 and as he returned to the track, he collided with Mazepin, who was on a slow lap, ripping his rear left wheel off and bent one of Mazepin's wishbones on his suspension.
Saturday's Feature Race will take place at 18:30 local time.
