Louis Sharp has managed to hold his own in the eighteen lap sprint race at Silverstone, bringing home eighth for the Kiwi’s second points finish of the season.
Pole sitter Ugo Ugochukwu got off to a great start to hold the lead on lap one, but was not able to rest as Yevan David kept the pressure on. Behind them sat Sharp’s teammate James Wharton in fourth, with Sharp holding firm in tenth.
DRS was soon activated as Sharp maintained his position. Out front, Ugochukwu and David gave the other no leeway as they fought hard through Maggots and Becketts, with Ugochukwu holding firm.
Ahead of Sharp, Fionn McLaughlin and Theo Nael started to battle, keeping the Kiwi in the hunt. By lap five, he was only three tenths behind the Irishman.
Hometown driver Freddie Slater started to put pressure on Ernesto Rivera, the driver behind Sharp. Meanwhile, out front, Ugochukwu held a second lead over David, while having the fastest lap.
On lap ten, Slater soon moved ahead of Rivera, meaning the Kiwi would be the next driver ahead. However, Sharp soon moved ahead of Alexander Gusti, who had a suspected issue, meaning the Kiwi moved into ninth.
At the front of the field, Ugochukwu started to run away with the lead as he extended the gap to David to over five seconds. The two Trident drivers of Noah Stromsted and Matteo de Palo soon started to clash wheels in the fight for the podium in what was turning into a thrilling race.
Sharp moved into eighth with five laps to go as his teammate Wharton fell back to ninth. However, Slater was just too fast for the Kiwi as he got past with two to go – leaving the Kiwi in ninth. However, the Kiwi immediately tried to fight back, moving back into eighth in an extremely close fight.
As the laps counted down the battle at the front started to heat up as five cars were inseparable in the last few laps.
Sharp soon moved into seventh as McLaughlin ran wide through the final corner. However, Slater proved too quick for the Kiwi, demoting Sharp back to eighth.
Ugochukwu was able to control the final laps to come home a monumental seventeen seconds ahead, the biggest win margin in Formula 3 history. Sharp was able to hold position to finish eighth, bringing home his second points finish of the season.
David and Nael finished the podium.
Sharp will take to the track again for the feature race at 7:35pm NZST.
