The day began with a bank of thick fog hanging over the Nürburgring, delaying qualifying by an hour. When the action finally got under way in Group A, Egor Orudzhev (Tech 1 Racing) was the first to post a time, with Steijn Schothorst (Manor MP Motorsport) and then Nyck de Vries ducking underneath it. Andrea Pizzitola and Dennis Olsen (Prema Powerteam) joined the fight in the final minutes, though it was Nyck de Vries who ended the session fastest with a time of 1:58.061, followed by Andrea Pizzitola and Levin Amweg (ART Junior Team).

The times continued to tumble when the drivers in Group B emerged. Jack Aitken (Fortec Motorsports) beat Nyck de Vries’ benchmark time on his second lap and then went even faster, only for Alexander Albon to pip him with a time of 1:55.808, which was enough to give him pole ahead of Nick Cassidy and Jack Aitken at the end of a truncated session.

Saturday’s Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 race at the Nürburgring gets under way at 14.15.

Alex Albon : “It’s amazing to be on pole. I love driving in variable conditions, and I think that helped, especially as we weren’t able to put new tyres on yesterday. Let’s hope we can keep it going in the race.”