Rising star Maverick Vinales claimed his first 125cc pole position after a tight battle with championship leader Nico Terol at Silverstone.
Terol had hung back at first, allowing Vinales and Johann Zarco - the only men to beat him on the road this year - to fight it out for pole.
Just after half-distance, Terol thrust his Aspar Aprilia to the front with a time nearly a second clear of his rivals, as has been his habit in qualifying so far this year.
For most of the season that has been the end of the story, but this time Vinales fought back, getting ever closer to Terol before reclaiming provisional pole with a 2m14.684s, putting him nearly 0.4 seconds clear of Terol at the time.
The points leader soon retaliated and closed to within a few fractions of Vinales, but could not beat the Spanish rookie.
Zarco completed the front row after a late exchange of places with Efren Vazquez.