Leclerc dominates first day of Austria GP3 test

The Ferrari junior set a best time of 1m19.171s in the dying stages of the morning session, leading teammates Nyck de Vries and Alexander Albon by 0.555s and 0.612s respectively.

Leclerc however was narrowly beaten by Trident’s Antonio Fuoco in the slower afternoon session, the Italian taking the top spot towards the start of the final hour of running.

The Italian lapped the Austrian track in 1m19.824s, beating Leclerc by 0.090s, although this was only enough to be fourth fastest overall.

Oscar Tunjo (Jenzer), Jake Hughes (DAMS) and Nirei Fukuzumi (ART) were the only other drivers to lap beneath the 1m20s mark, all doing so during the morning session.

Jack Aitken (Arden), Matt Parry (Koiranen) and Richard Gonda (Jenzer) completed the overall top 10 for the day, the latter being one of few drivers to improve in the afternoon session.

There were a total of three red flags during the day, the first coming in the morning as Tunjo brushed against the barriers.

A stoppage for Steijn Schothorst (Campos) caused the second interruption of the day in the afternoon session, before a third red flag period was brought on by Tunjo and Tatiana Calderon (Arden) both coming to a halt on track.

Combined testing results

Pos.	Driver	Team	AM	PM
1	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix	1:19.171	1:19.914
2	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1:19.726	1:20.020
3	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix	1:19.783	1:20.261
4	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	1:20.141	1:19.824
5	Oscar Tunjo	Jenzer Motorsport	1:19.899	1:20.467
6	Jake Hughes	DAMS	1:19.912	1:20.180
7	Nirei Fukuzumi	ART Grand Prix	1:19.942	1:20.210
8	Jack Aitken	Arden International	1:20.166	1:20.395
9	Matt Parry	Koiranen GP	1:20.178	1:20.209
10	Richard Gonda	Jenzer Motorsport	1:21.071	1:20.315
11	Artur Janosz	Trident	No Time	1:20.352
12	Ralph Boschung	Koiranen GP	1:20.595	1:20.368
13	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1:20.710	1:20.414
14	Sandy Stuvik	Trident	1:20.432	1:20.430
15	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	1:20.443	1:21.231
16	Santino Ferrucci	DAMS	1:20.580	1:21.437
17	Jake Dennis	Arden International	1:20.615	1:21.057
18	Matevos Isaakyan	Koiranen GP	1:20.669	1:20.671
19	Kevin Jorg	DAMS	1:20.672	1:20.772
20	Akash Nandy	Jenzer Motorsport	1:20.794	1:22.416
21	Konstantin Tereshchenko	Campos Racing	1:21.061	1:20.963
22	Steijn Schothorst	Campos Racing	1:21.085	No Time
23	Tatiana Calderon	Arden International	1:21.266	1:21.663