Paul Ricard Formula Renault 3.5: Jules Bianchi pips Sam Bird to pole

But Bianchi's pole could yet come under threat, with the Tech 1 driver under investigation for an incident with Vittorio Ghirelli.

Polesitter Bianchi was a frontrunner from the moment the first flying laps got underway. During the first runs he traded blows at the top with Alexander Rossi, while later in the session he had to respond to an attack from Kevin Magnussen.

The Ferrari junior driver was then on course to improve again, but he clattered into the back of a touring Ghirelli into the final corner, ruining his lap and spinning the Italian.

However, any hopes his rivals had of taking advantage of that incident were dashed when the red flag came out with just 29 seconds remaining after Kevin Korjus stopped out on track.

That left Bianchi, who is 18 points behind Frijns in the championship, on pole, but the stewards are looking into the clash with Ghirelli.

Bird, who is next up in the standings and 32 points back, will start alongside him on the front row.

Nico Muller knocked Magnussen back another place to take third in the final minute, while Rossi had to settle for fifth after his early scrap for pole with Bianchi.

Arthur Pic and race one winner Antonio Felix da Costa were next up, with Frijns completing the fourth row just 0.4 seconds adrift of pole.

Saturday polesitter Nick Yelloly took ninth, while GP3 runner-up Daniel Abt had his best qualifying performance since switching to FR3.5 and completed the top 10.

Pos  Driver                  Team            Time       Gap
 1.  Jules Bianchi           Tech 1          1m48.103s
 2.  Sam Bird                ISR             1m48.240s  + 0.137s
 3.  Nico Muller             Draco           1m48.295s  + 0.192s
 4.  Kevin Magnussen         Carlin          1m48.335s  + 0.232s
 5.  Alexander Rossi         Arden Caterham  1m48.386s  + 0.283s
 6.  Arthur Pic              DAMS            1m48.541s  + 0.438s
 7.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Arden Caterham  1m48.547s  + 0.444s
 8.  Robin Frijns            Fortec          1m48.565s  + 0.462s
 9.  Nick Yelloly            Comtec          1m48.709s  + 0.606s
10.  Daniel Abt              Tech 1          1m48.766s  + 0.663s
11.  Vittorio Ghirelli       Comtec          1m49.037s  + 0.934s
12.  Aaro Vainio             RFR             1m49.145s  + 1.042s
13.  Lucas Foresti           DAMS            1m49.205s  + 1.102s
14.  Mikhail Aleshin         RFR             1m49.251s  + 1.148s
15.  Zoel Amberg             Pons            1m49.362s  + 1.259s
16.  Andre Negrao            Draco           1m49.390s  + 1.287s
17.  Walter Grubmuller       P1              1m49.502s  + 1.399s
18.  Carlos Huertas          Fortec          1m49.519s  + 1.416s
19.  Marco Sorensen          Lotus           1m49.779s  + 1.676s
20.  Daniil Move             P1              1m49.829s  + 1.726s
21.  Will Stevens            Carlin          1m49.944s  + 1.841s
22.  Jake Rosenzweig         ISR             1m50.107s  + 2.004s
23.  Yann Cunha              Pons            1m50.546s  + 2.443s
24.  Davide Rigon            BVM Target      1m50.569s  + 2.466s
25.  Nikolay Martsenko       BVM Target      1m50.608s  + 2.505s
26.  Kevin Korjus            Lotus           1m51.281s  + 3.178s