Richie Stanaway (Lotus) set the early pace but was soon eclipsed by Sergey Sirotkin and Carlos Sainz, who ducked under the two-minute mark to lead the session at the midway point. After bolting on new tyres, the drivers gave it all they had in the closing stages, with Pierre Gasly the first to improve on the Spaniard’s time. When his rivals hit back, the Frenchman replied by moving back to the top of the timesheets, only for Carlos Sainz to grab pole with a time of 1:58.681 with two minutes remaining.

The Spaniard will be joined on the front row by Pierre Gasly, while Sergey Sirotkin will line up behind them with Richie Stanaway, who is making his return to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in place of the injured Matthieu Vaxiviere, still sidelined after fracturing a vertebra at Monaco. The New Zealander was himself injured at Spa two years ago, when he was also driving for Lotus. Roberto Merhi (Zeta Corse) completed the top five.

Saturday’s Formula Renault 3.5 Series race starts at 15:20.

Carlos Sainz: “We were struggling a bit in the straight in sectors 1 and 3, which didn’t happen yesterday, though we looked good in the second sector, and that’s important. My lap was good enough to get the pole, but it wasn’t perfect and I’m not 100-percent satisfied. My challenge now will be to keep my lead heading into Les Combes, but with the slipstreaming there’s a 70-percent chance I’ll lose it."