Palmer takes fourth F2 pole

Palmer left it late to extract the best from his set of new tyres and toppled Bailly, who had been quickest in every session up until qualifying, from his perch.

Jack Clarke and Nicola de Marco will share the second row of the grid for this afternoon's first race, just 0.018s and 0.024s slower than Bailly's time.

Kazim Vasiliauskas was only half a tenth off Bailly but will start just fifth, with Philipp Eng concluding the top six after lying third for much of the half hour.

Will Bratt and Ivan Samarin will occupy row four, with title contender Dean Stoneman down in ninth alongside Ricardo Teixeira.

There were no major incidents during the session, though Bailly, Teixeira, Armaan Ebrahim, Plamen Kralev and Kelvin Snoeks were all cautioned for exceeding the track limits at the Turn 5 hairpin.

Pos Driver                     Time       Gap    Laps
 1. Jolyon Palmer              1m35.700s           16
 2. Benjamin Bailly            1m35.915s  +0.215   14
 3. Jack Clarke                1m35.933s  +0.233   16
 4. Nicola de Marco            1m35.957s  +0.257   15
 5. Kazim Vasiliauskas         1m36.009s  +0.309   14
 6. Philipp Eng                1m36.012s  +0.312   16
 7. Will Bratt                 1m36.172s  +0.472   15
 8. Ivan Samarin               1m36.296s  +0.596   14
 9. Dean Stoneman              1m36.382s  +0.682   14
10. Ricardo Teixeira           1m36.442s  +0.742   15
11. Kelvin Snoeks              1m36.495s  +0.795   13
12. Benjamin Lariche           1m36.502s  +0.802   15
13. Natalia Kowalska           1m36.550s  +0.850   14
14. Sergei Afanasiev           1m36.788s  +1.088   16
15. Mihai Marinescu            1m36.855s  +1.155   16
16. Armaan Ebrahim             1m37.031s  +1.331   15
17. Parthiva Sureshwaren       1m37.068s  +1.368   12
18. Plamen Kralev              1m37.769s  +2.069   13