Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp has reclaimed the lead of the GB3 Championship after a sensational race victory at the Hungaroring.
The 17-year-old arrived in Hungary eager to regain the top place in the prestigious junior series that had been lost as a result of another driver’s indiscretion three weeks ago at Spa-Franchorchamps.
Sporting an eye-catching new helmet design, the young New Zealander bounced back in imposing style by dominating Free Practice on both Thursday and Friday.
Having laid down a marker by topping the time sheets in three of the warm-up sessions and clocking the second fastest time in the fourth, Sharp seemed perfectly primed for Saturday morning’s qualifying and the weekend’s trio of races.
Qualifying, though, did not go as planned. The Rodin Motorsport driver was unhappy with his car’s handling and found himself back in a lowly ninth spot, well below expectations and behind his major title rivals, with a mountain to climb.
Come to the opening showdown, Sharp lined up in eighth after a higher qualifier served a grid place penalty.
He quickly made a place on the opening lap before briefly challenging for sixth but, on a track where overtaking is nigh impossible after the first few corners, could make no further progress and had to settle for a safe seventh place finish.
With the grid for Sunday morning’s race two set by a driver’s second fastest lap time in qualifying, though still below Sharp’s front row aspirations post his dominant performances in Free Practice, Sharp would line up in a slightly better fifth place – and from there he made a sensational getaway.
The talented teenager scythed his way past all four of those ahead with daring moves on a stunning opening lap to storm into the race lead.
Once in front, the young Kiwi never looked back, smashing the GB3 lap record several times to score a superb victory and move back up to second position in the championship.
“I wasn’t where I wanted to be on the grid, and I needed to make positions but was thinking it would be pretty good to get one or two on the first lap… but I ended up passing all four of them!” grinned the delighted victor. “I got a fantastic getaway – passed two of them around turn one, then the third around the outside of turn two before slipping by the leader on the way into the chicane.
“I’ve got to give the team a big ‘thank you’. We struggled with the set-up in qualifying, but they turned it around, and we are back where we should be at the front. Since Oulton Park, things haven’t gone completely to plan. I’ve always been fast but we haven’t had the best of luck, so it’s great to get another win and be back into title contention.”
With the top 12 positions from the first race reversed for the grid of the third and final showdown, Sharp lined up fourth, targeting a second victory.
However, with temperatures soaring and the Kiwi starting on a well-used set of tyres, progress was always going to be a battle. In the end, he settled for a strong fourth and, with his two closest championship rivals behind him, scored enough points to retake his position at the top of the standings as the season nears its mid-way point.
“Running on our worst tyres, that was one of the toughest races I’ve ever done – I was relieved to hold onto fourth,” admitted the New Zealander. “As a whole, though, after qualifying where we did, we maximised all three results, and I’m very happy to be back at the top of the points table and now relishing the coming races.”
Next, the GB3 Championship continues its tour of European Grand Prix venues with a visit to Zandvoort in Holland before returning to the UK for concluding rounds at Silverstone, Donington Park, and Brands Hatch.
