Callum Voisin set the pace in qualifying to take pole for the first GB3 Championship race of the weekend at Snetterton.
Roberto Faria and Javier Sagrera were the first to set timed laps, joined by Branden Oxley and Voisin in the early stages.
Those efforts weren’t representative though, running several seconds off the pace set in testing during the week.
Those drivers were the quickest once the competitive laps came in, though, the Carlin trio holding the top three positions after eight minutes.
Faria led Voisin by two thousandths, with Sagrera eight hundredths further back.
Much of the grid had yet to set a representative time at the halfway stage, while Oxley kept himself at the sharp end by going third, just under two hundredths behind Faria.
Max Esterson set the quickest times in Sectors 1 and 2 just past the ten-minute mark, but couldn’t improve in Sector 3 and stayed in the midfield.
Matthew Rees and Joel Granfors went to the top with eight minutes remaining, the Welshman gapping the field by a tenth.
Luke Browning arrived at Snetterton one point behind Granfors in the standings, and briefly went onto provisional pole before Rees and Granfors retook their places on the front row.
Tom Lebbon put himself top of the Elite Motorsport tree by going third, before Esterson displaced him with Nico Christodoulou also showing strongly in seventh.
Alex Connor shot up to fifth to join his Arden Motorsport team-mate with five minutes remaining, before Christodoulou, Lebbon and John Bennett improved again.
Luke Browning had a lap time deleted for a track limits infringement, with Rees and Faria only separated by two thousandths.
Sagrera and Voisin had started to slip back after the early stages, but moved back up to eighth and tenth respectively, before Connor moved back up to sixth.
Browning thought he had pole with the final lap of the session, but was deposed by Voisin and Granfors.
Granfors backed out of his final lap, while Browning couldn’t improve to hand Voisin his first GB3 pole.
Granfors will join him on the front row, with Luke Browning, Matthew Rees, Roberto Faria and Tom Lebbon completing the top five.
Browning and Granfors will lead the field away for Race 2, with Mikkel Grundtvig on reverse-grid pole for Race 3.
GB3 Snetterton Qualifying Results:
| Pos. | No. | Name | Nat. | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 35 | Callum Voisin | GBR | Carlin | 1:41.442 |
| 2 | 50 | Joel Granfors | SWE | Fortec Motorsport | +0.094s |
| 3 | 5 | Luke Browning | GBR | Hitech GP | +0.103s |
| 4 | 53 | Matthew Rees | GBR | JHR Developments | +0.186s |
| 5 | 7 | Roberto Faria | BRA | Carlin | +0.188s |
| 6 | 34 | Tom Lebbon | GBR | Elite Motorsport | +0.296s |
| 7 | 32 | Alex Connor | GBR | Arden Motorsport | +0.309s |
| 8 | 27 | John Bennett | GBR | Elite Motorsport | +0.413s |
| 9 | 31 | Javier Sagrera | SPA | Carlin | +0.451s |
| 10 | 22 | Nico Christodoulou | CAN | Arden Motorsport | +0.474s |
| 11 | 42 | Max Esterson | USA | Douglas Motorsport | +0.500s |
| 12 | 68 | Branden Oxley | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | +0.669s |
| 13 | 64 | Nick Gilkes | CAN | Hillspeed | +0.725s |
| 14 | 8 | McKenzy Cresswell | GBR | Chris Dittmann Racing | +0.754s |
| 15 | 4 | Bryce Aron | USA | Hitech GP | +1.051s |
| 16 | 77 | David Morales | USA | Arden Motorsport | +1.082s |
| 17 | 16 | Tommy Smith | AUS | Douglas Motorsport | +1.098s |
| 18 | 67 | James Hedley | GBR | Elite Motorsport | +1.114s |
| 19 | 11 | Marcos Flack | AUS | Douglas Motorsport | +1.240s |
| 20 | 21 | Zak Taylor | GBR | Fortec Motorsport | +1.306s |
| 21 | 6 | Cian Shields | GBR | Hitech GP | +1.464s |
| 22 | 43 | Mikkel Grundtvig | DEN | Fortec Motorsport | +2.108s |