By alley - Jun 7, 2016, 6:31 AM ET

GP3: Leclerc leads Red Bull Ring testing

Ferrari protege and GP3 Series leader Charles Leclerc topped the first of two days of testing at the Red Bull Ring.

The test is being used by teams to prepare for the next round at the Austrian venue, and punctuates the long gap between the opening round of the season at Barcelona in May and next month's return to the Red Bull Ring.

Monegasque Leclerc finished more than half a second clear on the strength of his morning time, and was then narrowly shaded by Ferrari stablemate Antonio Fuoco during the afternoon running.

The top times came during the final quarter of an hour of the morning session, with Leclerc leading ART Grand Prix team-mates Nyck de Vries and Alexander Albon.

Nirei Fukuzumi came within five hundredths of making it an ART 1-2-3-4 in the morning, but Jenzer Motorsport's Oscar Tunjo and DAMS's Barcelona poleman Jake Hughes just managed to insert their names above the Japanese on the timing screens.

Trident driver Fuoco (who was seventh in the morning) and Leclerc managed to stamp in the top two times in the afternoon during the final hour, just before a red flag to retrieve the stranded cars of Colombian duo Tunjo and Tatiana Calderon.

De Vries then continued his good day to finish the afternoon in third place, with Hughes again heading the British contingent in fourth, just fractionally clear of Matt Parry (Koiranen GP) and Fukuzumi.

Jack Aitken's best showing was eighth in the morning, while Jake Dennis – who arrived in Styria straight from the Le Mans 24 Hours test day – had a best of 14th.

The field is one down on the Barcelona series opener as Mahaveer Raghunathan – who was last in both races in Spai – has quit his seat with Koiranen to focus on his Auto GP title quest.

SESSION ONE TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix	1m19.171ss	1m19.171s	43
2	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1m19.726ss	0.555s	38
3	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix	1m19.783ss	0.612s	36
4	Oscar Tunjo	Jenzer Motorsport	1m19.899ss	0.728s	27
5	Jake Hughes	DAMS	1m19.912ss	0.741s	41
6	Nirei Fukuzumi	ART Grand Prix	1m19.942ss	0.771s	36
7	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	1m20.141ss	0.970s	22
8	Jack Aitken	Arden International	1m20.166ss	0.995s	39
9	Matt Parry	Koiranen GP	1m20.178ss	1.007s	24
10	Sandy Stuvik	Trident	1m20.432ss	1.261s	33
11	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	1m20.443ss	1.272s	32
12	Santino Ferrucci	DAMS	1m20.580ss	1.409s	47
13	Ralph Boschung	Koiranen GP	1m20.595ss	1.424s	24
14	Jake Dennis	Arden International	1m20.615ss	1.444s	36
15	Matevos Isaakyan	Koiranen GP	1m20.669ss	1.498s	12
16	Kevin Jorg	DAMS	1m20.672ss	1.501s	43
17	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1m20.710ss	1.539s	32
18	Akash Nandy	Jenzer Motorsport	1m20.794ss	1.623s	41
19	Konstantin Tereschenko	Campos Racing	1m21.061ss	1.890s	31
20	Richard Gonda	Jenzer Motorsport	1m21.071ss	1.900s	35
21	Steijn Schothorst	Campos Racing	1m21.085ss	1.914s	26
22	Tatiana Calderon	Arden International	1m21.266ss	2.095s	26
23	Artur Janosz	Trident	-	-	1

SESSION TWO TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	1m19.824ss	1m19.824s	45
2	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix	1m19.914ss	0.090s	37
3	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1m20.020ss	0.196s	47
4	Jake Hughes	DAMS	1m20.180ss	0.356s	33
5	Matt Parry	Koiranen GP	1m20.209ss	0.385s	37
6	Nirei Fukuzumi	ART Grand Prix	1m20.210ss	0.386s	40
7	Alexander Albon	ART Grand Prix	1m20.261ss	0.437s	29
8	Richard Gonda	Jenzer Motorsport	1m20.315ss	0.491s	36
9	Artur Janosz	Trident	1m20.352ss	0.528s	34
10	Ralph Boschung	Koiranen GP	1m20.368ss	0.544s	48
11	Jack Aitken	Arden International	1m20.395ss	0.571s	36
12	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1m20.414ss	0.590s	39
13	Sandy Stuvik	Trident	1m20.430ss	0.606s	38
14	Oscar Tunjo	Jenzer Motorsport	1m20.467ss	0.643s	20
15	Matevos Isaakyan	Koiranen GP	1m20.671ss	0.847s	36
16	Kevin Jorg	DAMS	1m20.772ss	0.948s	40
17	Konstantin Tereschenko	Campos Racing	1m20.963ss	1.139s	25
18	Jake Dennis	Arden International	1m21.057ss	1.233s	39
19	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	1m21.231ss	1.407s	39
20	Santino Ferrucci	DAMS	1m21.437ss	1.613s	31
21	Tatiana Calderon	Arden International	1m21.663ss	1.839s	31
22	Akash Nandy	Jenzer Motorsport	1m22.416ss	2.592s	40
23	Steijn Schothorst	Campos Racing	-	-	2