F3 racer Charles Leclerc tops first day of GP3 Abu Dhabi test

The Monegasque racer, driving for 2015 championship-winning team ART, led the way by more than four tenths of a second from Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco, driving for Trident.

After having a quiet morning session, Leclerc traded places at the top of the timesheets throughout the afternoon running, responding to laps from Ralph Boschung and Fuoco to retake top spot whenever he was usurped at the head of the field.

Any chance for late flying laps was ruined when Kevin Jorg spun at Turn 3 with just three minutes remaining, bringing out the red flags and ending the session early.

Leclerc's F3 rival Jake Dennis was third fastest in the afternoon session where the leading times for the day were set, while moring pacesetter Matt Parry was fourth overall for the day.

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award nominee Jake Hughes, stepping up from Formula Renault 2.0, set the fifth fastest time of the day with the Koiranen team he raced with in the Renault-backed category.

MORNING TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Matt Parry	Trident	1m55.800s	-	17
2	Jack Aitken	Koiranen GP	1m55.958s	0.158s	23
3	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	1m55.993s	0.193s	17
4	Jake Dennis	Arden International	1m56.121s	0.321s	18
5	Jake Hughes	Koiranen GP	1m56.228s	0.428s	18
6	Kevin Jorg	Trident	1m56.244s	0.444s	19
7	Steijn Schothorst	Campos Racing	1m56.437s	0.637s	25
8	Ralph Boschung	Status Grand Prix	1m56.536s	0.736s	19
9	Matevos Isaakyan	Koiranen GP	1m56.829s	1.029s	12
10	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix	1m57.090s	1.290s	25
11	Nabil Jeffri	ART Grand Prix	1m57.275s	1.475s	23
12	Santino Ferrucci	Status Grand Prix	1m57.629s	1.829s	19
13	Pedro Cardoso	Campos Racing	1m57.793s	1.993s	25
14	Leonardo Pulcini	Jenzer Motorsport	1m57.921s	2.121s	18
15	Will Palmer	Arden International	1m57.932s	2.132s	21
16	Tatiana Calderon	Status Grand Prix	1m58.004s	2.204s	20
17	Antoni Ptak	Jenzer Motorsport	1m58.557s	2.757s	18
18	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Campos Racing	1m58.792s	2.992s	27
19	Giuliano Alesi	Arden International	1m59.175s	3.375s	22
20	Nico Rindlisbacher	Jenzer Motorsport	1m59.180s	3.380s	18
21	Nirei Fukuzumi	ART Grand Prix	2m16.963s	21.163s	4

AFTERNOON TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix	1m55.209s	-	28
2	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	1m55.657s	0.448s	25
3	Jake Dennis	Arden International	1m55.760s	0.551s	29
4	Jake Hughes	Koiranen GP	1m55.949s	0.740s	30
5	Matevos Isaakyan	Koiranen GP	1m55.985s	0.776s	17
6	Kevin Jorg	Trident	1m56.047s	0.838s	23
7	Ralph Boschung	Status Grand Prix	1m56.065s	0.856s	23
8	Nabil Jeffri	ART Grand Prix	1m56.156s	0.947s	28
9	Nirei Fukuzumi	ART Grand Prix	1m56.292s	1.083s	32
10	Matt Parry	Trident	1m56.369s	1.160s	25
11	Jack Aitken	Koiranen GP	1m56.450s	1.241s	26
12	Steijn Schothorst	Campos Racing	1m56.621s	1.412s	18
13	Tatiana Calderon	Status Grand Prix	1m56.664s	1.455s	25
14	Santino Ferrucci	Status Grand Prix	1m56.755s	1.546s	22
15	Will Palmer	Arden International	1m56.843s	1.634s	27
16	Leonardo Pulcini	Jenzer Motorsport	1m57.136s	1.927s	23
17	Giuliano Alesi	Arden International	1m57.250s	2.041s	29
18	Nico Rindlisbacher	Jenzer Motorsport	1m57.444s	2.235s	30
19	Pedro Cardoso	Campos Racing	1m57.515s	2.306s	29
20	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Campos Racing	1m57.705s	2.496s	23
21	Antoni Ptak	Jenzer Motorsport	1m57.904s	2.695s	20