Home Z - Archive seriesGP3 Charles Leclerc tops both days of in-season GP3 test at Spielberg

Charles Leclerc tops both days of in-season GP3 test at Spielberg

by Peter Allen
Leclerc

Photo: Alastair Staley/GP3 Media Service

GP3 championship leader Charles Leclerc posted the best time on both days of the in-season test at Spielberg ahead of round two at the Austrian circuit next month.

On the opening day, the Ferrari Driver Academy member was over half a second clear of closest rival?Nyck de Vries?with the time he set in the morning session.

Leclerc’s fellow Barcelona winner?Alex Albon made it an ART Grand Prix 1-2-3 on Tuesday morning, while Trident’s?Antonio Fuoco took fourth on the day by beating fellow Ferrari protege Leclerc to set the afternoon pace.

Leclerc went fastest again on Wednesday morning, a quarter of a second slower than his previous?benchmark but still quicker?than anyone else could manage over the two days.

Fuoco came closest to challenging him, falling just 12 thousandths of a second short in a particularly close morning session where the top 18 were covered by less than half a second.

British-born drivers?Matt Parry,?Alex Albon and?Jack Aitken completed the top five, with de Vries sixth.

The best time of the afternoon was over a second down and set by?Steijn Schothorst.

The field was reduced to 23 after?Mahaveer Raghunathan?– who finished last in the two Barcelona races – abandoned his campaign with Koiranen to focus his efforts on the Italian Auto GP series, where he took second and third out of seven starters in?the opening races.

Combined test results
Pos Driver Tues AM Tues PM Weds AM Weds PM
1 Charles Leclerc 1:19.171 1:19.914 1:19.437 1:21.427
2 Antonio Fuoco 1:20.141 1:19.824 1:19.449 1:21.164
3 Matt Parry 1:20.178 1:20.209 1:19.502 1:21.037
4 Alexander Albon 1:19.783 1:20.261 1:19.554 1:21.346
5 Jack Aitken 1:20.166 1:20.395 1:19.580 1:20.708
6 Nyck de Vries 1:19.726 1:20.020 1:19.586 1:21.083
7 Oscar Tunjo 1:19.899 1:20.467 1:19.636 1:20.979
8 Ralph Boschung 1:20.595 1:20.368 1:19.683 1:20.968
9 Santino Ferrucci 1:20.580 1:21.437 1:19.702 1:20.738
10 Sandy Stuvik 1:20.432 1:20.430 1:19.705 1:22.059
11 Steijn Schothorst 1:21.085 No time 1:19.727 1:20.671
12 Jake Hughes 1:19.912 1:20.180 1:19.781 1:21.537
13 Jake Dennis 1:20.615 1:21.057 1:19.814 1:20.749
14 Matevos Isaakyan 1:20.669 1:20.671 1:19.818 1:21.073
15 Giuliano Alesi 1:20.710 1:20.414 1:19.871 1:21.058
16 Richard Gonda 1:21.071 1:20.315 1:19.874 1:21.035
17 Nirei Fukuzumi 1:19.942 1:20.210 1:19.905 1:21.434
18 Alex Palou 1:20.443 1:21.231 1:19.914 1:22.374
19 Konstantin Tereschenko 1:21.061 1:20.963 1:19.942 1:20.919
20 Tatiana Calder?n 1:21.266 1:21.663 1:20.063 1:21.143
21 Akash Nandy 1:20.794 1:22.416 1:20.206 1:21.731
22 Kevin J?rg 1:20.672 1:20.772 1:20.252 1:21.299
23 Artur Janosz No time 1:20.352 1:20.291 1:20.992