Nico Terol took his fourth pole in five 125cc races at Catalunya, overcoming a challenge from his Aspar Aprilia teammate Hector Faubel.
After Terol had led the way for much of the session, Faubel nosed ahead briefly in the closing minutes, before Terol put in a 1m51.281s to take another pole by 0.402 seconds.
Maverick Vinales – the man who ended Terol's winning run at Le Mans – jumped to third right at the end of the session, completing an all-Spanish front row on the riders' home ground.
Ajo Derbi duo Johann Zarco and Efren Vazquez were fourth and fifth, joined on row two by Sandro Cortese despite the German crashing on his last lap.