Wittmann and Merhi take poles

The pair were engaged in a scrap during the session for the overall fastest time - which sets the grid for race three on Sunday.

Merhi appeared to be in control of that battle when he rattled off two laps in succession that were good enough for pole with six minutes remaining.

But Signature driver Wittmann responded just one minute later to narrowly take top spot, and from then on the plans of Prema duo Merhi and Daniel Juncadella were hindered by a red flag.

The stoppage, caused by Nigel Melker, occurred with just four minutes remaining. Crucially, Merhi had just set the fastest time through the first sector before the red flag, while Juncadella was getting up to speed after waiting longer than his rivals to start his final run of the session.

When the session restarted, there wasn't enough time left for anybody to get their tyres up to temperature to set a better lap time.

That left Merhi and Juncadella second and third for race three, with Laurens Vanthoor fourth for Signature. The top six was completed by Felix Rosenqvist (Mucke), and rookie Daniel Abt (Signature), with the latter opting not to go out for the final four minutes following the restart.

The grid for the first race of the weekend is set by taking each driver's second fastest lap. Merhi's burst of two quick laps in the middle of the session means that he has pole for Saturday morning's race, with Juncadella completing a front row lockout for Prema Powerteam.

Vanthoor, Rosenqvist, Wittmann and Abt completed the top six for race one. Race two's grid is determined by reversing the top eight finishing positions from race one.

The grid could have had a different shape to it had several drivers not been penalised for going outside the track limits. The stewards were removing the lap times during the session when people were going off track, and in total nine drivers had laps discredited during the 30-minute session.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                Time       Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi       Prema Dallara-Merc      1m33.282s
 2.  Daniel Juncadella   Prema Dallara-Merc      1m33.606s  + 0.324s
 3.  Laurens Vanthoor    Signature Dallara-VW    1m33.641s  + 0.359s
 4.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc      1m33.646s  + 0.364s
 5.  Marco Wittmann      Signature Dallara-VW    1m33.704s  + 0.422s
 6.  Daniel Abt          Signature Dallara-VW    1m33.812s  + 0.530s
 7.  Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark Dallara-VW     1m33.819s  + 0.537s
 8.  Nigel Melker        Mucke Dallara-Merc      1m33.832s  + 0.550s
 9.  Tom Dillmann        Carlin Dallara-VW       1m33.944s  + 0.662s
10.  Carlos Munoz        Signature Dallara-VW    1m34.092s  + 0.810s
11.  Carlos Huertas      Carlin Dallara-VW       1m34.277s  + 0.995s
12.  Kimiya Sato         Motopark Dallara-VW     1m34.303s  + 1.021s
13.  Jazeman Jaafar      Carlin Dallara-VW       1m34.365s  + 1.083s
14.  Kuba Giermaziak     Star Dallara-VW         1m34.418s  + 1.136s
15.  Gianmarco Raimondo  Motopark Dallara-VW     1m34.938s  + 1.656s
16.  Sandro Zeller       Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc  1m35.262s  + 1.980s

Race three grid:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                Time       Gap
 1.  Marco Wittmann      Signature Dallara-VW    1m33.152s
 2.  Roberto Merhi       Prema Dallara-Merc      1m33.249s  + 0.097s
 3.  Daniel Juncadella   Prema Dallara-Merc      1m33.490s  + 0.338s
 4.  Laurens Vanthoor    Signature Dallara-VW    1m33.538s  + 0.386s
 5.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc      1m33.583s  + 0.431s
 6.  Daniel Abt          Signature Dallara-VW    1m33.684s  + 0.532s
 7.  Nigel Melker        Mucke Dallara-Merc      1m33.751s  + 0.599s
 8.  Tom Dillmann        Carlin Dallara-VW       1m33.757s  + 0.605s
 9.  Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark Dallara-VW     1m33.810s  + 0.658s
10.  Kimiya Sato         Motopark Dallara-VW     1m34.060s  + 0.908s
11.  Carlos Munoz        Signature Dallara-VW    1m34.085s  + 0.933s
12.  Carlos Huertas      Carlin Dallara-VW       1m34.187s  + 1.035s
13.  Kuba Giermaziak     Star Dallara-VW         1m34.205s  + 1.053s
14.  Jazeman Jaafar      Carlin Dallara-VW       1m34.332s  + 1.180s
15.  Gianmarco Raimondo  Motopark Dallara-VW     1m34.823s  + 1.671s
16.  Sandro Zeller       Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc  1m35.253s  + 2.101s