Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the first GP3 race of the weekend at the Hungaroring, as ART Grand Prix repeated its one-two performance from free practice.
The Finn dominated the session, setting multiple laps good enough for first place in the early running. By the time everyone changed tyres for the final flurry of action he was nearly half a second clear of teammate James Calado, but the Briton hacked away at that margin in the closing stages.
Calado briefly took pole with two minutes to go, but Bottas was only a few seconds behind him on track and he was quickly back in control.
Mitch Evans edged his way to the front for MW Arden over the course of the session, finally making it all the way to third with his final lap as the chequered flag fell. That knocked Tech 1's Aaro Vainio back to fourth, while Addax driver Michael Christensen completed the top five after a session where he was strong throughout.
Rio Haryanto (Manor), Nico Muller (Jenzer), Tom Dillmann (Addax) and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Manor) were next up, while Pedro Nunes completed a great session for ART by making the top 10.
Just behind him, championship leader Alexander Sims hauled himself up to 11th with a hugely committed final lap. The Status driver has been struggling all weekend, and he was battling to stay in the top 20 throughout the session until his final effort.
Lewis Williamson was another title contender to struggle. The MW Arden driver had a spin early on after he dropped a wheel onto the grass at Turn 9, and he ended the session down in 15th place.