Reigning British F4 champion Louis Sharp left the GB3 season opener at Oulton Park as the championship leader. He established an impressive 15-point lead over fellow F4 champion and Rodin Motorsport teammate Ugo Ugochukwu with one win, a podium finish and a fifth place, positioning himself as a clear title contender. Feeder Series spoke to the Kiwi to understand what enabled his success at Oulton Park.

By George Brabner

Amongst a field of nine second-year drivers and two third-year contenders, Sharp was not expected to fight for race wins straight away as the GB3 season began on Easter weekend, even in light of his British F4 glory.

However, pre-season testing raised anticipation for his debut in the series with the newly-rebranded Rodin Motorsport team, being the only driver not entering their third season in GB3 to top a day of running.

Having appeared to have front-running pace, Sharp’s winter speed translated into competitive reality jumping to Oulton Park for round one, when he took a double pole position on Saturday morning, beating JHR Developments’ John Bennett to the top spot by over a quarter of a second. 

Reminiscent of Joseph Loake’s results on his maiden GB3 appearance, who went on to take third in the championship last year, Sharp went on to take victory in race one – the weekend’s only dry contest – and second in race two, which signified a dream start to his F3 regional graduation.

“It’s definitely been a strong way to start off the season. Obviously, double pole yesterday and a race win was the perfect start, really,” he told Feeder Series in the paddock at Oulton Park. 

“Weather was a bit different this morning. It’s been very wet, so starting on pole again for the second race of the weekend we ended up P2, so obviously not where we wanted to be. We wanted to be first, but saying that though, it’s still good points on the board. I can’t complain too much. 

“Our first wet race in GB3, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It was extremely tough. I think it was a lot wetter than we were expecting it to be as a team, so all three of us did struggle a little bit. So there’s a little bit of pace we need to find, I kind of lacked a bit compared to the other guys around me, but to still hold on to P2 is a good result.”

Pre-season is key

More concrete indications of Sharp’s potentially race-winning pace were outlined during official testing at Oulton Park, Donington Park and Silverstone in March, but that was not the beginning of his pre-season running.

Sharp and Rodin Motorsport put together a strong winter programme that included a myriad of private test days where he showed his hand to some degree, albeit in a less representative environment. 

He was not alone in completing a comprehensive private testing campaign by any means, as GB3 does not impose a limit on running in the UK – JHR’s Bennett, for example, first tested with his new team just days after the 2023 season finale. Sharp believes that the extra testing he underwent was “crucial” to his success in round one, given the opportunity to dial in the car to his liking to a high level which other drivers were not.

“I think the team have done a really good job of getting me up to speed super quickly, getting me comfortable with the car quickly. We’ve also, I think, developed a lot the car over the winter to get the car obviously into a pretty good window. So I think doing that pre-season testing has been very beneficial.

“I mean, going straight into your first-ever race having never driven the car before would be pretty crazy. So no, doing a few days of testing, I think that has definitely given me a good kickstart into my campaign,” he explained.

Nevertheless, a strong testing programme does not eradicate one’s rookie status, and although it is an advantage, Sharp is certain that there is much more to find as the season progresses.

“I still think every time I’m going out into the car I’m still learning, still improving. So I think over the course of the season, every round we’ll be getting stronger and stronger,” he said.

“There’s a lot we’ve had to learn in a short amount of time. Obviously, when you’ve got guys like John all fighting for race wins, he’s in his third year, he’s been there and he’s experienced it all. Whereas I’m learning a lot for my first time. 

“There’s a bit we still have to learn and I think that was showed this morning, but saying that, I think so far it’s been really good.”

“There’s no need to rush through the steps”

Born in May 2007, Sharp’s age directed his career in 2023. He had to continue in British F4 for a second season because he would turn 16 – the minimum age for a competitor at the F3 regional level – after the first two rounds of the GB3 season, which was likely to have derailed any hopes of title contention or a top-five finish. 

That was a disadvantage that he dealt with in 2022 when he started his F4 career but to a lesser extent, forced only to miss the season opener.

Aside from the obvious upside that was winning the British F4 title upon his return, Sharp labelled the experience that he gained in 2023 as “pretty important” in the wider image of his successful GB3 graduation, whilst other drivers across the single-seater ladder skip key steps in their development simultaneously to faster ascend through the ranks.

“I think there’s no need to rush through the steps,” he said. “There’s no need to move up too early. I mean, if it wasn’t for my age, I probably would have been in GB3 last year but obviously, with me turning 16 at the time, we would have been two rounds into the championship so there’s no point. 

“So yeah, I think having done one whole year in F4 and most of another year, I think it’s definitely given me good experience coming into GB3.”

Level-headed from the outset

With less of the untamed tenacity that many less experienced rookies possess, Sharp was already thinking about the championship in the opening minutes of the 2024 season.

Whilst he was able to stand strong against Bennett’s early attack in race one, race two in wet conditions saw him slipping backwards into the clutches of the Briton after a safety car interruption caused by a crash for Rishab Jain. 

Just moments after the restart, Bennett snatched the lead with an astonishing move around the outside of the Kiwi at Island Bend, which is usually flat out in dry conditions. Although Sharp pushed Bennett to the very limits of the track once they were side-by-side, he felt that he “could have been a bit aggressive” defending his position but opted against it knowing the potential loss.

“You know, I’ve learned from my mistakes in British F4 last year. It’s not about winning every race, it’s about always finishing and always being consistent. So I could have done a bit more to keep him behind, but then obviously risked a crash. At the end of the day, that could have been 35 or 29 points lost, which is a lot. 

“In my head, although it’s early, I’m still thinking about the championship, so just thinking about keeping it clean, just finishing every race, to be honest.”

Having topped off his weekend with a mistake-free comeback drive from 12th in reverse-grid race three to fifth, Sharp has a 16-point lead over Bennett, who is his nearest full-time rival, heading to Silverstone. 

However, the first Formula One venue on the GB3 calendar promises strong competition for Sharp. Silverstone was the only sign of hope in an otherwise dim 2023 for Bennett, where he took two on-track race wins in May with the Rodin Carlin entity. JHR and Elite Motorsport also showed race-winning pace at the venue in 2023 with Loake, Matthew Rees and McKenzy Cresswell standing on the top step of the podium there one year ago.  

Alex Dunne only narrowly missed out on glory during round two with Hitech as well, which bodes well for Will Macintyre, Tymek Kucharczyk and Gerrard Xie – all of whom expected to win races.

Header photo credit: Artie C Photo