Barcelona GP3: Leclerc wins his first race as Ferrari junior

The order of the lead runners was largely decided at the start of what was a processional opening race for the series' new Dallara GP3/16, as Leclerc made the perfect getaway from third on the grid to grab the lead.

Poleman Jake Hughes slotted in behind the ART driver for second, ahead of Nirei Fukuzumi, as Kevin Jorg slipped from second on the grid to fifth behind Antonio Fuoco on the first lap.

Leclerc had Hughes on his tail for the first few tours, but soon began to pull away, establishing a cushion of 1.6s over the DAMS driver after five laps.

That became just over two seconds at the halfway mark, the Monegasque masterfully controlling the pace to take the chequered flag on his debut by six seconds as Hughes dropped back in the latter stages.

Fukuzumi was a further 1.4s back in third, and some 12 seconds clear of Fuoco, the Italian the best of last year's returnees in fourth place ahead of Jorg.

The only pass in the top 10 after the first lap came courtesy of Alex Albon, who cleared Jake Dennis for sixth as the Arden driver ran wide at the final corner the opening tour.

Dennis spent the rest of the race fending off Oscar Tunjo, Nyck de Vries and Ralph Boschung, who made up the top 10 finishers.

Jack Aitken ended up down in 20th, having stalled from his grid slot of 10th, falling to the rear of the field and also baulking Arden teammate Tatiana Calderon, who started directly behind and dropped to 14th as a result.

Full results

Pos.	Driver	Team	Gap
1	Charles Leclerc	ART Grand Prix
2	Jake Hughes	DAMS	6.0s
3	Nirei Fukuzumi	ART Grand Prix	7.4s
4	Antonio Fuoco	Trident	19.3s
5	Kevin Jorg	DAMS	22.8s
6	Alex Albon	ART Grand Prix	23.3s
7	Jake Dennis	Arden International	24.0s
8	Oscar Tunjo	Jenzer Motorsport	25.5s
9	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	26.4s
10	Ralph Boschung	Koiranen	27.1s
11	Matevos Isaakyan	Koiranen	28.8s
12	Matt Parry	Koiranen	30.9s
13	Richard Gonda	Jenzer Motorsport	33.0s
14	Tatiana Calderon	Arden International	33.8s
15	Santino Ferrucci	DAMS	34.2s
16	Artur Janosz	Trident	36.8s
17	Konstantin Tereshchenko	Campos Racing	38.1s
18	Sandy Stuvik	Trident	44.3s
19	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	44.9s
20	Jack Aitken	Arden International	45.2s
21	Akash Nandy	Jenzer Motorsport	55.6s
22	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1m00.2s
23	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Koiranen	1m03.3s
24	Steijn Schothorst	Campos Racing	+22 laps