Photo: Antonin Grenier / DPPI / Renault Sport Media
DAMS driver Carlos Sainz secured his fourth pole position of the Formula Renault 3.5 season in Saturday qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Spaniard came out on top in a closely fought session, in which pole position was decided in a last-minute flurry of flying laps.
Sainz and teammate Norman Nato led the session coming into the halfway point, when the field came into the pits for their fresh sets of tyres.
Pierre Gasly was among the first drivers to emerge back on track and immediately went quickest by a large margin.
The fresher tyres had a huge impact on the order as everyone began to significantly improve their lap times. Pietro Fantin was quickest a minute after Gasly, only to be immediately pipped by Sergey Sirotkin.
Series returnee Richie Stanaway was then briefly 0n top, before Gasly got back into first.
Finally, with a minute and a half to go, it was Sainz who wrestled the lead back and, despite many of his rivals getting another two laps to respond, the Spaniard managed to remain out front.
Fellow Red Bull junior Gasly will join Sainz on the front row, while Sirotkin will start in third place.
Stanaway will line up in fourth on his return to the Formula Renault 3.5 category, with Roberto Merhi and Fantin occupying row three.
Matias Laine took seventh ahead of Zoel Amberg, Marlon Stockinger and Oliver Rowland, with tenth place less than half a second down on the pole lap.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | DAMS | 1:58.681 | 11 | |
| 2 | Pierre Gasly | Arden Motorsport | 1:58.802 | 0.121 | 11 |
| 3 | Sergey Sirotkin | Fortec Motorsports | 1:58.818 | 0.137 | 11 |
| 4 | Richie Stanaway | Lotus | 1:58.855 | 0.174 | 10 |
| 5 | Roberto Merhi | Zeta Corse | 1:58.928 | 0.247 | 10 |
| 6 | Pietro Fantin | International Draco Racing | 1:58.993 | 0.312 | 10 |
| 7 | Matias Laine | Strakka Racing | 1:58.994 | 0.313 | 10 |
| 8 | Zoel Amberg | AVF | 1:59.015 | 0.334 | 11 |
| 9 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | 1:59.150 | 0.469 | 11 |
| 10 | Oliver Rowland | Fortec Motorsports | 1:59.151 | 0.470 | 12 |
| 11 | Luca Ghiotto | International Draco Racing | 1:59.206 | 0.525 | 11 |
| 12 | Norman Nato | DAMS | 1:59.221 | 0.540 | 12 |
| 13 | Marco Sorensen | Tech 1 Racing | 1:59.229 | 0.548 | 11 |
| 14 | Jazeman Jaafar | ISR | 1:59.260 | 0.579 | 10 |
| 15 | Will Stevens | Strakka Racing | 1:59.388 | 0.707 | 11 |
| 16 | William Buller | Arden Motorsport | 1:59.477 | 0.796 | 12 |
| 17 | Meindert van Buuren | Pons Racing | 1:59.610 | 0.929 | 11 |
| 18 | Beitske Visser | AVF | 1:59.692 | 1.011 | 11 |
| 19 | Oscar Tunjo | Pons Racing | 1:59.965 | 1.284 | 10 |
| 20 | Roman Mavlanov | Zeta Corse | 2:01.118 | 2.437 | 10 |