By alley - Sep 1, 2015, 1:31 PM ET

F3: Ferrari protege Stroll tops Algarve test

Ferrari protege Lance Stroll topped both sessions on the first of two days of testing at the Algarve circuit ahead of this weekend's Formula 3 European Championship.

The 16-year-old Canadian, who took his first overall podium last time out at the Red Bull Ring, topped Markus Pommer by just 0.014 seconds in the morning, before the track was changed for the afternoon session due to excessive track-limits abuse. Instead of using the fast right-hander at Turn 1, competitors went through a tight chicane, raising lap times by around five seconds.

Title contender Felix Rosenqvist was quickest going into the closing minutes, before the sister Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes of Stroll went to the top of the times, finishing 0.032s clear of the Swede.

Pommer was again quick in his Motopark Dallara-Volkswagen, the German taking third-fastest time and leading no fewer than six competitors within the same tenth.

Breathing down Pommer's neck were Prema runner Jake Dennis, championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi (Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen), Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-VW), Carlin's George Russell and the Mercedes-powered West-Tec machine of Raoul Hyman.

VAR drivers Arjun Maini and Alessio Lorandi were third and fourth in the morning, while Red Bull junior Callum Ilott was fifth in his Carlin car and was also in the top 10 on the longer configuration.

Julio Moreno made a big step forward to take ninth in the afternoon in his T-Sport Dallara-NBE, while much interest focused on the return of two ex-T-Sport drivers: Nick Cassidy and Alexander Sims. Cassidy, called up by Prema for the next two rounds, was 10th in the morning and 13th in the afternoon, while Sims, representing the new Hitech Grand Prix team, was 13th in the morning and 17th in the afternoon.

Three of the regulars were missing. Fabian Schiller has parted company with Team West-Tec due to disappointing results; Double R Racing's Nicolas Pohler is still out in the wake of his cycling injury; while Kang Ling was not present in his Mucke Motorsport car.

MORNING TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m38.484ss	1m38.484s	43
2	Markus Pommer	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m38.498ss	0.014s	39
3	Arjun Maini	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m38.631ss	0.147s	50
4	Alessio Lorandi	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m38.767ss	0.283s	57
5	Callum Ilott	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m38.791ss	0.307s	45
6	George Russell	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m38.933ss	0.449s	46
7	Felix Rosenqvist	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m38.934ss	0.450s	46
8	Antonio Giovinazzi	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m38.958ss	0.474s	32
9	Mikkel Jensen	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m38.981ss	0.497s	37
10	Nick Cassidy	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.004ss	0.520s	42
11	Sam MacLeod	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.048ss	0.564s	45
12	Charles Leclerc	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.066ss	0.582s	57
13	Alexander Sims	HitechGP	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.119ss	0.635s	37
14	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.152ss	0.668s	31
15	Matt Solomon	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.262ss	0.778s	52
16	Maximilian Gunther	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.305ss	0.821s	41
17	Alexander Albon	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.306ss	0.822s	39
18	Raoul Hyman	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.359ss	0.875s	48
19	Michele Beretta	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.404ss	0.920s	43
20	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.412ss	0.928s	52
21	Jake Dennis	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.454ss	0.970s	34
22	Ryan Tveter	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.554ss	1.070s	46
23	Santino Ferrucci	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m39.672ss	1.188s	36
24	Nabil Jeffri	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.698ss	1.214s	28
25	Gustavo Menezes	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.714ss	1.230s	35
26	Julio Moreno	ThreeBond with T-Sport	Dallara/NBE	1m39.848ss	1.364s	48
27	Tatiana Calderon	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m39.939ss	1.455s	36
28	Zhi Cong Li	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m40.048ss	1.564s	34
29	Dorian Boccolacci	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m40.170ss	1.686s	45
30	Andy Chang	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m40.231ss	1.747s	43
31	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m40.273ss	1.789s	51
32	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m41.796ss	3.312s	14

AFTERNOON TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m43.305ss	1m43.305s	44
2	Felix Rosenqvist	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m43.337ss	0.032s	45
3	Markus Pommer	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.516ss	0.211s	33
4	Jake Dennis	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m43.544ss	0.239s	43
5	Antonio Giovinazzi	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.559ss	0.254s	26
6	Charles Leclerc	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.560ss	0.255s	43
7	George Russell	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.580ss	0.275s	30
8	Raoul Hyman	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	1m43.586ss	0.281s	42
9	Julio Moreno	ThreeBond with T-Sport	Dallara/NBE	1m43.633ss	0.328s	36
10	Callum Ilott	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.644ss	0.339s	28
11	Mikkel Jensen	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m43.710ss	0.405s	33
12	Alessio Lorandi	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.711ss	0.406s	40
13	Nick Cassidy	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m43.783ss	0.478s	30
14	Maximilian Gunther	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m43.831ss	0.526s	33
15	Alexander Albon	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.866ss	0.561s	37
16	Nabil Jeffri	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m43.982ss	0.677s	35
17	Alexander Sims	HitechGP	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.013ss	0.708s	28
18	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m44.059ss	0.754s	31
19	Tatiana Calderon	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m44.106ss	0.801s	26
20	Santino Ferrucci	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.134ss	0.829s	32
21	Gustavo Menezes	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m44.156ss	0.851s	23
22	Ryan Tveter	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m44.186ss	0.881s	38
23	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.319ss	1.014s	29
24	Dorian Boccolacci	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m44.417ss	1.112s	33
25	Michele Beretta	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.481ss	1.176s	31
26	Matt Solomon	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.519ss	1.214s	17
27	Arjun Maini	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m44.541ss	1.236s	40
28	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.653ss	1.348s	29
29	Andy Chang	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.809ss	1.504s	24
30	Zhi Cong Li	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1m44.936ss	1.631s	29
31	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m46.480ss	3.175s	28
32	Sam MacLeod	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	-	-	2