Jules Bianchi took his maiden Formula Renault 3.5 pole position in comfortable fashion ahead of first race of the weekend at the Nurburgring.
The Ferrari junior driver was one of the first to improve after everybody rejoined the track on a second set of tyres in the closing stages. He had been sitting second behind Robin Frijns up to that point, but with four minutes remaining he went four tenths of a second clear of the Dutchman.
From there Bianchi (Tech 1) was untouchable, although Frijns did manage to improve his best by a tenth of a second in the final minute. The Fortec man was under no pressure either though, as he ended the session six tenths of a second ahead of the cars that will make up row two.
The best of the rest honour behind the dominant top two was DAMS' Arthur Pic, who was the only other driver to get within one second of Bianchi's pole time. Nico Muller, who topped Friday's wet second free practice session, will line up fourth for Draco.
Walter Grubmuller was on course for a second row berth before Pic and Muller popped up with late efforts, but the P1 driver still managed a top five, just ahead of Friday morning pacesetter Kevin Magnussen (Carlin).
Championship leader Sam Bird (ISR) ran as high as third in the closing stages, but he was eventually shuffled down to eighth, just behind Lotus driver Marco Sorensen.
Series returnee Cesar Ramos was an impressive ninth in the second Lotus entry, while new Red Bull junior Antonio Felix da Costa (Arden Caterham) lost out in a fight with ISR's Jake Rosenzweig for the final top 10 spot.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Jules Bianchi Tech 1 1m40.537s
2. Robin Frijns Fortec 1m40.915s + 0.378s
3. Arthur Pic DAMS 1m41.437s + 0.900s
4. Nico Muller Draco 1m41.555s + 1.018s
5. Walter Grubmuller P1 1m41.579s + 1.042s
6. Kevin Magnussen Carlin 1m41.592s + 1.055s
7. Marco Sorensen Lotus 1m41.607s + 1.070s
8. Sam Bird ISR 1m41.608s + 1.071s
9. Cesar Ramos Lotus 1m41.612s + 1.075s
10. Jake Rosenzweig ISR 1m41.785s + 1.248s
11. Antonio Felix da Costa Arden Caterham 1m41.852s + 1.315s
12. Carlos Huertas Fortec 1m41.869s + 1.332s
13. Andre Negrao Draco 1m41.890s + 1.353s
14. Will Stevens Carlin 1m41.892s + 1.355s
15. Kevin Korjus Tech 1 1m42.097s + 1.560s
16. Lucas Foresti DAMS 1m42.136s + 1.599s
17. Anton Nebylitskiy RFR 1m42.261s + 1.724s
18. Mikhail Aleshin RFR 1m42.395s + 1.858s
19. Zoel Amberg Pons 1m42.406s + 1.869s
20. Alexander Rossi Arden Caterham 1m42.477s + 1.940s
21. Nick Yelloly Comtec 1m42.645s + 2.108s
22. Daniil Move P1 1m42.750s + 2.213s
23. Nikolay Martsenko BVM Target 1m43.092s + 2.555s
24. Yann Cunha Pons 1m43.185s + 2.648s
25. Giovanni Venturini BVM Target 1m43.336s + 2.799s
26. Vittorio Ghirelli Comtec 1m43.492s + 2.955s