The Frenchman, who completed second within the drivers’ standings final 12 months, put in a surprising lap to complete qualifying 0.7s away from rookie team-mate Victor Martins.
Having led observe earlier within the day, the championship favorite put in a 1m40.903s to take the entrance spot for Sunday’s characteristic race at Sakhir.
Regardless of being in his third F2 season, this was solely Pourchaire’s his second pole within the sequence, the primary having are available Monaco in 2021.
Behind reigning F3 champion Martins, who will line up second for his debut F2 characteristic race, Richard Verschoor was third for Van Amersfoort Racing and Dennis Hauger fourth for MP Motorsport.
Ralph Boschung was first to the highest of the instances for Campos Racing, along with his first flying lap a 1m42.010s earlier than he was rapidly demoted by Alfa Romeo F1 reserve driver Pourchaire, who went nearly 0.5s faster.
DAMS rookie Arthur Leclerc slotted into third place, with a 1m42.212s, earlier than he was rapidly shuffled down by Alpine Academy member Martins.
Fellow Alpine junior Jack Doohan, who enters the season as a title favorite, ran within the hole in a bid to search out extra time and went fourth quickest for Invicta Virtuosi Racing with a 1m42.112s.
However the danger didn’t repay for the Australian, who completed sixth within the standings final 12 months, and he completed the session in seventeenth place behind Invicta Virtuosi Racing team-mate Amaury Cordeel.
Because the pack emerged with contemporary smooth tyres, rookie Kush Maini went second quickest for Campos, with a 1m41.927s, earlier than he was rapidly demoted by Verschoor, 0.1s faster.
Pourchaire then put in his pole-clinching lap, along with his team-mate slotting in to second and the remainder of the sphere unable to match ART’s superior qualifying tempo.
Hauger, who received the F3 title in 2021, will line up fourth for Sunday’s race, with Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti in fifth, having moved to Prema from ART for 2023.
Maini, the brother of former F2 racer Arjun, begins sixth with the DAMS pair of Ayumu Iwasa and Leclerc in seventh and eighth respectively.
Boschung will line up on reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s dash race, with Trident rookie Roman Stanek behind him.