After taking a race win and a third-place finish at British F4’s penultimate round, series leader Louis Sharp is in the midst of a six-week wait before the season finale at Brands Hatch. There is only one point between Sharp and Will Macintyre, and speaking to Feeder Series, the Rodin Carlin driver said ‘we need to really go out and nail it’ to beat the Hitech of Macintyre.

By Gerren Scapens

Sharp was 26 points behind Macintyre heading into the penultimate weekend of the season at Donington Park. The full weekend plus a rescheduled race from round three at Snetterton gave the New Zealander every opportunity to neutralise any advantage Macintyre had.

Sharp quickly cut the gap to four points by winning the opening race of the weekend as Macintyre came home ninth. By the end of Saturday, Sharp had retaken the championship lead for the first time since Oulton Park in June with a third-place finish in the rescheduled race. Macintyre, meanwhile, finished sixth after receiving a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.

But on Sunday, the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver retook the lead of the championship with a second-place finish, his only podium of the weekend, whilst Sharp finished sixth. The momentum then swung back to Sharp, who secured another third place with Macintyre one place behind.

Sharp says he ‘should have done more’ in race three

Despite retaking the championship lead by one point after the final race, Sharp felt he drove too conservatively during it considering the pace he had.

“It was not really the race I was wanting, to be honest. I got a good start, I was into the lead, and then after that point I was just probably playing it a bit too safe. I knew that I needed to get solid points over Will, so I was probably not really taking any risks,” Sharp told Feeder Series.

“I didn’t really defend from the guys behind when I should have, and then it ended up leaving me open to get attacked. So I ended up finishing third, unfortunately.

“I was a bit unlucky. I did drop back to second. I was going for a move on the lead, and the guy in front of me [Mika Abrahams] did go off and then kind of come back on and screw me up, so it was a bit unfortunate. We got a bit unlucky there.

“At the end of the day, I still probably should have done more to hold on to the lead when I had it.” 

Down to the wire

Sharp’s one-point lead means the title will likely go down to the final race unless Sharp outscores Macintyre by 25 points or Macintyre outscores Sharp by 28 over the first two races. (In the event of a tie, Sharp, who has five wins to Macintyre’s two, would take the advantage.).

“There’s nothing to lose now. We’re heading into the last round. With how close it is, we need to really go out and nail it,” Sharp said. “I’m going to use this time [off] to really work hard on myself and to really come in fully prepared. When we arrive at the track on Thursday and go out for first practice, we’re really on it.”

As a would-be champion in his second year of British F4, Sharp is expected to move up the single-seater ladder for 2024, but he said the future was not his current focus.

“The main focus is on this championship and just getting it done. Obviously, we do have some time off, so maybe we’ll explore a few things, but I think our main focus needs to be on wrapping up the championship.”

Header photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography via British F4