Photo: Gruppe C Photography/ADAC
ADAC Formula 4 championship leader Theo Pourchaire took a double pole for the Sachsenring title decider.
The Sauber Junior was on top for most of the first 15-minute session, which was stopped with just under a minute to go by a red flag.
R-ace GP pair Mikhael Belov ended the session 0.044 seconds behind in second place, with his team-mate Gregoire Saucy in third. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Dennis Hauger was next best of the title contenders in fourth, narrowly ahead of Sauber rival Arthur Leclerc.
Alessandro Ghiretti (US Racing) and Gianluca Petecof (Prema) started the session well but they sank down the order to seventh and eighth, while Roman Stanek didn’t help his distant title chances by qualifying 1.579s back in 10th for US Racing.
The R-ace GP pair were rapid again in the second session, which was declared wet, and Belov looked on for his first pole until Pourchaire’s final effort displaced him by a scant 0.030s.
This time the title contenders were a lot closer, with Petecof and Hauger filling the second row. Ghiretti and Leclerc were sixth and seventh, while Stanek struggled once again and could only manage 13th place.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Theo Pourchaire US Racing 1m32.525s
2 Mikhael Belov R-ace GP +0.044s
3 Gregoire Saucy R-ace GP +0.363s
4 Dennis Hauger Van Amersfoort Racing +0.435s
5 Arthur Leclerc US Racing +0.467s
6 Oliver Rasmussen Prema +0.470s
7 Alessandro Ghiretti US Racing +0.724s
8 Gianluca Petecof Prema +0.788s
9 Paul Aron Prema +1.254s
10 Roman Stanek US Racing +1.579s
Race 2 grid
1 Pourchaire 1m32.768s
2 Belov +0.030s
3 Petecof +0.180s
4 Hauger +0.275s
5 Saucy +0.334s
6 Ghiretti +0.697s
7 Leclerc +0.776s
8 Aron +0.827s
9 Joshua Duerksen Mucke Motorsport +0.866s
10 Sebastian Estner Van Amersfoort Racing +1.439s