ART Grand Prix’s Charles Leclerc drove to a clear victory in the first GP3 race of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Frenchman claimed the win on his debut in the feeder series. In fact, the top three places were filled by 2016 rookies.
DAMS racer Jake Hughes took pole position earlier on Saturday but lost out to Leclerc at the start. The two drivers kept in close contact early on before the ART GP car started to move clear.
Despite dark clouds looming in the distance, conditions remained largely dry, other than a few spots of rain. There were some close battles throughout the race but drivers struggled to overtake.
Leclerc crossed the line six seconds clear of Hughes to win the 2016 GP3 season opener, with his team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi just behind in third place.
The experienced Trident driver Antonio Fuoco was fourth, ahead of front row starter Kevin Joerg and Alexander Albon. Jake Dennis was the lead Arden, with Oscar Tunjo next up.
Nyck de Vries and Ralph Boschung completed the top 10 in the first race, with Matevos Isaakyan, Matt Parry, Richard Gonda and Tatiana Calderon filling the next four places.
Santino Ferrucci, Artur Janosz, Konstantin Tereshchenko, Sandy Stuvik and Alex Palou were next up. Jack Aitken started 10th but stalled on the grid and dropped down the field, eventually finishing 20th.
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