Nikola Tsolov claimed his second pole position in a week, going back-to-back in Spielberg and Silverstone by logging a last-gasp 1m 45.043s for the top spot.
The Campos Racing driver had been quickest after the first runs, but a huge improvement by championship leader and title rival Rafael Câmara going into the final laps put the pressure on his closest challengers.
The Red Bull Junior Team driver delivered one final personal best to retake P1 by just 0.023s over PREMA Racing and McLaren Development Driver Ugo Ugochukwu.
The American was able to split Tsolov and Câmara on his last lap, leaving the Brazilian third on the grid.
Mari Boya moved Campos up to fourth with his final lap in what was his best Qualifying result since Monaco, while second in the championship Tim Tramnitz wound up fifth for MP Motorsport.
Charlie Wurz was sixth for TRIDENT ahead of Martinius Stenshorne, Laurens van Hoepen, Theophile Nael and Noel León.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak wound up 12th for Campos, and he will have DAMS Lucas Oil’s Christian Ho alongside him on the front row for tomorrow’s reverse grid Sprint Race.
For a full report of the F3 Qualifying session from Silverstone, head to the official championship website.