Hugo Schwarze is combining an unexpected campaign with VRD Racing in GB3 on a race-by-race basis with his Le Mans Cup commitments this season – and finding success in both. Feeder Series spoke to the German driver mid-year about how his dual campaign is playing out.

By George Sanderson

The vast majority of young drivers face the reality of budget constraints on their journey through motorsport’s junior categories. Hugo Schwarze has experienced this firsthand in 2025 as he competes in the GB3 Championship on a race-by-race basis alongside his Le Mans Cup commitments.

“I didn’t really know [that] I was going to be here at the start of the year,” Schwarze told Feeder Series. “I thought I was only going to race LMP3. I didn’t even think about GB3, so even being able to race until now is awesome.”

In GB3, the 19-year-old competes for VRD Racing, who are in the peculiar position of having a line-up without any confirmed full-time drivers. Schwarze is joined by Red Bull junior Enzo Tarvanichkul, who is only competing in the British rounds of the championship as well as the season finale at Monza. The Thai driver’s main campaign is in Eurocup-3 with Campos Racing.

Schwarze made his GB3 debut last year with Elite Motorsport having also competed with the team in the 2023 Ginetta Junior Championship, his first car racing season. He was the runner-up to Freddie Slater in Ginettas but, unlike the Briton, skipped the F4 level entirely. Instead, he made his single-seater debut one step higher in GB3, ultimately finishing ninth in the drivers’ championship. 

This season, Schwarze has been unable to commit to a second full season in the GB3 Championship, making no secret of his strained budget. The uncertainty of his situation capped off an uncomfortable winter for VRD Racing after British team Arden Motorsport, with whom they had partnered since 2023, stepped away from GB3 at the start of the year.

The team made only sparse appearances throughout pre-season testing as their initial driver target chose another championship. Reigning USF Juniors champion and USF2000 frontrunner Max Taylor, who had made his GB3 debut last September at Donington Park, had been penciled in for one of their GB3 seats alongside his existing USF Pro 2000 commitments with VRD. Those had only one calendar clash, but the 17-year-old American was then offered five Indy NXT rounds with HMD Motorsports – two of which clashed with GB3’s calendar – and decided to back away from his original GB3 plans.

Schwarze tested for VRD at the official pre-season Silverstone test in March, but with GB3’s introduction of the new Tatuus MSV GB3-025 chassis raising costs series-wide, a second full-time campaign was not on the cards. Instead, having assessed multiple options, including a potential F3 seat, the German was set for a year in endurance racing.

On 4 February, Schwarze was announced to be racing in the Le Mans Cup’s LMP3 class with single-seater stalwarts R-ace GP and was later confirmed to be partnering 2021 FR Europe runner-up Hadrien David in the #85 car. It seemed to suggest a permanent switch away from single-seaters after just one campaign, making him another in the long list of young drivers – his 2024 Elite Motorsport teammates McKenzy Cresswell and Jarrod Waberski among them – forced to swap single-seaters for sports car racing because of budget restrictions.

Nevertheless, Schwarze tested with the rest of the GB3 field at Silverstone just a week later. Then on 9 April, just days after his Le Mans Cup debut, he was announced to be contesting the first round of the season at the same track. He had taken part in just three of the seven days of official pre-season testing and was not known to have participated in any external tests.

“Compared to the other drivers on the grid, I’ve not done as much testing in the new car, so I’m targeting top 10s in the first race weekend,” Schwarze said at the time. “As long as I get to grips with the car, get some good laps in and have some good racing, I’ll be happy with that.”

Schwarze finished 16th, 13th and 15th in the three races at Silverstone. Though he did not hit the targets he had set for himself, he remained optimistic that further appearances would come, as did VRD team principal Dan Mitchell.

“We’re hopeful that we can extend our relationship beyond Silverstone,” Mitchell said when Schwarze was announced. “We can do great things together as the season goes on.” 

In his Le Mans Cup debut in Barcelona, Schwarze started third but dropped to the back after receiving a drive-through for contact at the start. He managed some ‘damage limitation’ to recover to 10th by the end of his stint, with teammate David improving that to eighth by the flag. A ‘hard-fought’ fifth-place finish at the Circuit Paul Ricard followed the next month, but Schwarze said he was still not satisfied with those performances.

“Honestly, we struggled with the car there as well,” he told Feeder Series. “We always fought in the points, but at the start of the season even finishing in the top three of the championship looked difficult.”

His year finally turned around at the second round of the GB3 season at Zandvoort just a fortnight later. Schwarze qualified 10th and ninth in the two qualifying sessions, while the grid reversal put him fourth for the final race of the weekend.

Schwarze started strongly, overtaking both Keanu Al Azhari and Kai Daryanani on the opening lap before benefitting from ‘a small twitch from Will [Macintyre] going into Turn 3’ to take the race lead on lap two. After steering clear of the chaos behind him and surviving two safety car restarts, Schwarze took victory, his first in single-seaters.

“It feels awesome,” he said in an interview after the race. “When I joined this weekend, I thought maybe we could aim for the top 10, but winning the final race is obviously a dream come true.”

Schwarze couldn’t celebrate the result too much at the time; he had to fly back to England the same night to revise for a maths exam the following morning. But the real, long-lasting celebrations came in the days after, when he found he had raised the funds to compete again a fortnight later in Belgium.

Once again, he delivered. Schwarze secured his second podium of the season with second place in race one, having qualified in third and started on the front row because of a three-place grid penalty for Gianmarco Pradel carried over from the previous round.

Schwarze lost a spot to Patrick Heuzenroeder but reclaimed the position through Eau Rouge and Radillon before Noah Lisle overtook both down the Kemmel Straight. Schwarze returned the favour at the restart on lap four, then held off Will Macintyre’s attacks late in the race.

“The pace has been really really good all weekend,” Schwarze told Feeder Series. “[Race one] was a lot more chaotic than it seemed looking at the starting and finishing positions. [I] fell down the order, got back up the order and finished P2 which was obviously really good.”

Having missed out on a podium last year, Schwarze had now taken two in a row, but a third did not come that weekend. ‘Engine issues which caused some kind of override’ in race two left him without full power on occasion, and he nursed the car home for a 13th-place finish from 12th on the grid.

Race three, which Schwarze started from pole, brought changeable weather conditions thanks to prior rainfall, and his decision to start on wet tyres proved misguided when the track dried faster than expected. He pitted to change to slicks on lap three of 11 and fought back to eighth from the rear of the field, which became ninth after he received a 10-second penalty for moving before the start.

“I don’t think we really had a choice other than [to] go on wets at the start there,” he told Feeder Series. “If you start further back, then you can go for that gamble and send it on slicks, but in our position, it was just really difficult. I boxed for slicks and was in the top three in terms of pace. [It was] a solid recovery drive given the circumstances.”

As he waited to see if he would return for the race weekend in Budapest a month later, Schwarze had a trip to a legendary endurance racing venue on the horizon.

The Le Mans Cup was one of four support series on the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans race weekend. Both qualifying sessions were interrupted by incidents, including one for the #85 car in the second session, meaning no meaningful times were set and grids were determined based on times from the free practice sessions. Schwarze thus started race one from pole but dropped back to third by the end of his stint. Teammate David then lifted them to second for their first podium of the season.

The team’s Q2 incident meant David started race two from 20th, but he avoided multiple incidents to move up to ninth by the pit stops. Schwarze then starred in his stint, fighting for the win on the final lap after a late safety car and finishing just 0.531 seconds back in second place.

With two podiums in each of GB3 and LMP3, Schwarze was demonstrating his skill in both categories. It appeared sponsors were taking notice too, as once again he was able to return to GB3, this time for the fourth round of the season in Budapest.

Having qualified ninth in both sessions, Schwarze dropped back in race one before suffering a front wing failure and later retiring. He rebounded in race two to finish seventh before securing his third GB3 podium in as many rounds by finishing third in race three from fourth on the grid.

“It was good to finish a tough weekend off with a podium at the end there,” he told Feeder Series afterwards. “The team and I have just been constantly working and chipping away at the car, and looking at Silverstone at the start of the year, I didn’t really think I was going to be up close and fighting for podiums and wins.”

Schwarze is in a familiar position – sitting ninth in the GB3 drivers’ standings – despite the uncertainty of his seat. In the Le Mans Cup, he and teammate David are currently third in the championship, just nine points off the leading team of Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Alvise Rodella. 

Though he’s returning for round five of GB3 at Silverstone on the first weekend of August, Schwarze told Feeder Series in Budapest that his LMP3 campaign was ‘the main priority’. 

“I’d obviously love to race both for the rest of the season, but it’s just not how it goes.”

There are three rounds remaining of the Le Mans Cup season, beginning with a return to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in late August – the same weekend GB3 is set to race at Brands Hatch. The remaining two Le Mans Cup races take place at Silverstone and Portimão in September and October respectively, with the latter clashing with the GB3 season finale at Monza.

Schwarze has already confirmed his presence for the upcoming GB3 round at Silverstone, and he could also feature at the penultimate round of the season at Donington Park on the first weekend of October. While he chases progress on the single-seater ladder, he is under no illusions about where his future likely lies in racing.

“My focus in the long run is to race in the hypercars,” Schwarze told Feeder Series. “As much as I’d want to race in F1, it’s not just talent and all of that that counts. It’s a lot of budget as well and a bit of luck and a bit of contacts. Maybe if I get some luck, I’ll make it, but hypercar is awesome as well.”

Header photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography