The laptimes improved significantly over the course of the 20-minute session, with Kelvin van der Linde’s early benchmark of 1m31.371s in the Abt Sportsline Audi beaten by nearly the entire field.
HRT driver Vincent Abril, who was excluded from the Monza weekend over a fuel infringement, was the first to break the 1m31s barrier, setting the fastest time of the weekend with a 1m30.874s.
But then Red Bull junior Liam Lawson found even more time in the AF Corse-run Ferrari, ending the first runs on top with a 1m30.817s.
As the drivers returned to the track in the final five minutes, 2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller was the first to eclipse Lawson in the second of three Abt-run Audis, before Kelvin van der Linde improved to a 1m30.726s to make it an Audi 1-2 at the top of the timesheets.
Both van der Linde and Rockenfeller improved on their final flyers, reversing their positions at the top of the order, with Esteban Muth going third in the T3 Motorsport.
However, there was a late surprise when Rowe Racing’s Sheldon van der Linde went quickest with a last-gasp attempt of 1m30.537s, edging his younger brother by just 0.027s to claim his second pole position in the series.
Rockenfeller slipped to third in the final classifications, 0.137s off the pace, with Muth the best of the Lamborghini duo in fourth.
Lawson managed to gain a tenth over his previous time on his last lap but that was only good for fifth on the grid, 0.207s behind van der Linde's chart-topping time.
FP1 pacesetter Arjun Main was the top Mercedes driver in sixth in the GetSpeed-run AMG GT3, beating the second Red Bull-backed Ferrari of Alex Albon.
Timo Glock finished eighth after Rowe Racing elected to replace the drive-by-wire system on his car in favour of a conventional steering due to a faulty sensor.
Mercedes drivers occupied the next five spots on the grid, led by Winward driver Philip Ellis and Mucke Motorsport’s Maximilian Buhk, the latter subbing for the absent Gary Paffett for the second race weekend in a row.
Last year’s runner-up Nico Muller was surprisingly off the pace in the Team Rosberg, finishing over seven tenths down on the polesitter in 16th, only ahead of Sophia Floersch, Esmee Hawkey and teammate Dev Gore.
Qualifying results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 |  Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'30.537 | |
| 2 | 3 | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'30.564 | 0.027 | |
| 3 | 9 |  Mike Rockenfeller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'30.674 | 0.137 |
| 4 | 10 |  Esteban Muth | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1'30.710 | 0.173 |
| 5 | 30 |  Liam Lawson | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 1'30.744 | 0.207 |
| 6 | 36 |  Arjun Maini | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'30.756 | 0.219 |
| 7 | 23 |  Alex Albon | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 1'30.860 | 0.323 |
| 8 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'30.869 | 0.332 |
| 9 | 57 |  Philip Ellis | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'30.874 | 0.337 |
| 10 | 18 | Maximilian Buhk | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'30.897 | 0.360 |
| 11 | 22 |  Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'30.940 | 0.403 |
| 12 | 5 |  Vincent Abril | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'31.008 | 0.471 |
| 13 | 8 |  Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'31.041 | 0.504 |
| 14 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'31.052 | 0.515 |
| 15 | 4 | Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'31.097 | 0.560 |
| 16 | 51 |  Nico Müller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'31.254 | 0.717 |
| 17 | 99 | Sophia Flörsch | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'31.314 | 0.777 |
| 18 | 26 | Esmee Hawkey | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1'31.408 | 0.871 |
| 19 | 12 |  Dev Gore | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'31.786 | 1.249 |
| View full results | |||||
