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GP3 Barcelona: Ferrari F1 junior Charles Leclerc dominates race one

Ferrari protege Charles Leclerc utterly dominated the opening race of GP3's new era for champion team ART Grand Prix

Leclerc, who made his Formula 1 test debut in a 2014 Ferrari at Fiorano earlier this week in preparation for grand prix practice outings with Haas later this year, blasted past DAMS' front row pair Jake Hughes and Kevin Jorg at the start.

There was no stopping Leclerc thereafter, as he stormed away into a six-second lead.

Hughes held second to the flag ahead of Leclerc's team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi - the Honda junior achieving a podium finish in his first car race outside Japan.

Leclerc's fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Antonio Fuoco profited from an assertive first lap to beat Jorg to fourth.

Although increasing the amount of overtaking was one of the aims of the all-new GP3 car, action was sparse in the first race of the season.

Alexander Albon managed to dive past Jorg into the Turn 10 hairpin but ran wide and spent the rest of the race sat behind him.

Similarly Oscar Tunjo could not make any of his attempts to pass Jake Dennis for seventh work, though eighth earns him pole for Sunday's event.

Matt Parry quickly got up to 12th from 19th on the grid, then could make no further progress.

Last year's Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and ALPS champion Jack Aitken stalled on the grid and could only recover to 20th.

RESULTS - 22 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Charles Leclerc ART Grand Prix 36m38.694s
2 Jake Hughes DAMS 6.023s
3 Nirei Fukuzumi ART Grand Prix 7.452s
4 Antonio Fuoco Trident 19.325s
5 Kevin Jorg DAMS 22.801s
6 Alexander Albon ART Grand Prix 23.391s
7 Jake Dennis Arden International 24.086s
8 Oscar Tunjo Jenzer Motorsport 25.592s
9 Nyck de Vries ART Grand Prix 26.467s
10 Ralph Boschung Koiranen GP 27.104s
11 Matevos Isaakyan Koiranen GP 28.860s
12 Matt Parry Koiranen GP 30.952s
13 Richard Gonda Jenzer Motorsport 33.095s
14 Tatiana Calderon Arden International 33.871s
15 Santino Ferrucci DAMS 34.241s
16 Artur Janosz Trident 36.835s
17 Konstantin Tereschenko Campos Racing 38.168s
18 Sandy Stuvik Trident 44.347s
19 Alex Palou Campos Racing 44.902s
20 Jack Aitken Arden International 45.298s
21 Akash Nandy Jenzer Motorsport 55.655s
22 Giuliano Alesi Trident 1m00.294s
23 Mahaveer Raghunathan Koiranen GP 1m03.391s
- Steijn Schothorst Campos Racing Retirement

RACE TWO GRID

Pos Driver Team
1 Oscar Tunjo Jenzer Motorsport
2 Jake Dennis Arden International
3 Alexander Albon ART Grand Prix
4 Kevin Jorg DAMS
5 Antonio Fuoco Trident
6 Nirei Fukuzumi ART Grand Prix
7 Jake Hughes DAMS
8 Charles Leclerc ART Grand Prix
9 Nyck de Vries ART Grand Prix
10 Ralph Boschung Koiranen GP
11 Matevos Isaakyan Koiranen GP
12 Matt Parry Koiranen GP
13 Richard Gonda Jenzer Motorsport
14 Tatiana Calderon Arden International
15 Santino Ferrucci DAMS
16 Artur Janosz Trident
17 Konstantin Tereschenko Campos Racing
18 Sandy Stuvik Trident
19 Alex Palou Campos Racing
20 Jack Aitken Arden International
21 Akash Nandy Jenzer Motorsport
22 Giuliano Alesi Trident
23 Mahaveer Raghunathan Koiranen GP
24 Steijn Schothorst Campos Racing

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