Yuki Tsunoda claimed his third pole position of his rookie Formula 2 campaign after winning a close battle for top spot against Carlin team-mate Jehan Daruvala in Russia.
The Japanese driver pipped his fellow Red Bull protege to claim pole position by just 0.006s during the 30-minute session at the Sochi Autodrom.
Daruvala will start from the front-row of the grid, alongside Tsunoda, after his most competitive showing of the campaign.
Points leader Mick Schumacher was the best of the non-Carlin drivers as he captured third on the grid for Prema, ahead of nearest title rival Callum Ilott, while Luca Ghiotto recovered from a slow start to place fifth.
Outside title contenders Christian Lundgaard and Robert Shwartzman were sixth and seventh respectively.
Jack Aitken, Guanyu Zhou and Nikita Mazepin rounded out the top 10.
Four points for pole closes Tsunoda in at the top to 34 points going into Saturday’s race, which gets underway at 10:15 local time.
