ART Grand Prix’s Charles Leclerc quickest at the Red Bull Ring
ART Grand Prix’s and Scuderia Ferrari Team Development driver Charles Leclerc recorded the best laptime on day one at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria today. His time of 1:19.171 – set in the morning session - was over half a second quicker than his teammate Nyck de Vries in second. Trident and Ferrari Driver Academy’s Antonio Fuoco posted the fastest laptime in the afternoon session, just ahead of Leclerc.The opening day of the two day test session commenced under hazy blue skies with warm temperatures. Campos Racing’s Konstantin Tereshchenko set the early pace ahead of DAMS’ Kevin Jorg and Arden International’s Jack Aitken.Jenzer Motorsport’s Oscar Tunjo shot to the head of the timesheet after an hour on the clock and was first to dip under the 1m20s ahead of Trident’s Antonio Fuoco and Leclerc. However, there was a short red flag period after the Colombian then in P1 brushed against the barrier.
Leclerc found some extra pace to join Tunjo in the 1m19s to go second ahead of his teammate De Vries in the second half of the morning session. In the final 15 minutes, there were a flurry of changes with ART Grand Prix quartet on the move and swapping positions every lap. The Monegasque rookie set a flier to go P1 and lap half a second quicker than his Dutch teammate with Albon in third.
The positions remained the same at the chequered flag with the ART Grand Prix trio of Leclerc, De Vries and Albon topping the times. Tunjo was fourth ahead of Jake Hughes, Nirei Fukuzumi, Fuoco, Aitken, Matthew Parry and Sandy Stuvik.Following the one hour break, Parry was the initial pace-setter ahead of Hughes and Fukuzumi until the Japanese rookie headed to the top of the timesheet at the midway point in a 1:20.210.There was a brief stoppage when Steijn Schothorst stopped on track. Once the action resumed, Leclerc returned to the head of the timings when he was first to lap into the 1m19s, two tenths faster than his teammate. Fuoco bettered his time soon after by 0.09s to grab P1 with forty-five minutes remaining.There was another red flag period when Calderon and Tunjo both stopped on track. Meanwhile, Hughes moved up to third as the clock ticked down until De Vries demoted him. At the chequered flag, Fuoco remained on top ahead of Leclerc, De Vries, Hughes, Parry, Fukuzumi, Albon, Richard Gonda, Artur Janosz and Ralph Boschung.
The second and final day of testing will run tomorrow from 09.00 – 16.00 with a one hour break for lunch.
