Charles Leclerc storms damp F3 European Championship test day

The Monegasque, who was runner-up in Formula Renault ALPS last season, was fastest in the wet morning session by a clear seven tenths of a second in his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-Volkswagen.

He was also comfortably clear for most of the afternoon session, although VAR team-mates Alessio Lorandi and Arjun Maini, and Carlin's Tuesday pacesetter Antonio Giovinazzi were also among those who took it in turns to top the times.

The track dried out sufficiently for most of the runners to fit slick tyres, and Leclerc's final lap of the day was half a second clear of the best anyone else managed, albeit five seconds slower than Tuesday's best.

McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner George Russell also improved on the final lap to leapfrog the sister Carlin Dallara-VW of fellow Brit Callum Ilott. Red Bull Junior Ilott was on an even quicker lap, but finished it in pitlane.

American Gustavo Menezes completed a Carlin 2-3-4 in the afternoon, with the Signature machine of Lotus F1 junior Alexander Albon fifth and Giovinazzi finishing the day sixth. The top 10 was rounded out by Maximilian Gunther, Sean Gelael, Santino Ferrucci and Fabian Schiller.

Schiller and Matt Solomon put West-Tec and Double R Racing respectively among the series powerhouses in the wet morning session, which they finished third and fourth behind Leclerc and Ilott.

Prema Powerteam did relatively little running in the drier afternoon conditions, explaining the absence of any of the Italian team's drivers from the top 26.