Arthur Pic made it two poles from two races as he topped qualifying for the second Formula Renault 3.5 race of the weekend at Aragon.
The DAMS driver had a torrid first race after his car struggled to pull away from pole, later crashing out after a collision with Jake Rosenzweig. However, he bounced back on Sunday morning to dominate second qualifying.
Pic moved to the front 12 minutes into the session, and he would hold pole position from then on. On his final three laps at the end he went faster each time, keeping him out of reach even as his pursuers also improved.
There was plenty of position swapping just behind him, where Lotus driver Marco Sorensen came out on top of a scrap with both Tech 1 and Fortec drivers to take the second spot on the front row.
Tech 1's Kevin Korjus and Jules Bianchi had held second and third spots just before then, but they had to settle for sixth and seventh on the grid as Fortec's Robin Frijns and Carlos Huertas knocked them back. A late effort from Sam Bird got him up the front too, and he will start fourth alongside Frijns.
Korjus and Bianchi paid the price for not completing hot laps as the checkered flag came out. The Estonian toured back to the pits with a misfiring engine on his final lap, while Bianchi abandoned his last effort.
Walter Grubmuller was shuffled back to eighth place after being one of the first runners to take a second set of tires, while the top 10 was completed by Nico Muller and Kevin Magnussen.
Race 1 winner Nick Yelloly was only ever in contention for a position toward the bottom of the top 10, and in the end he had to settle for 13th on the grid.