Young Driver Award finalist Sharp wins GB3 title at Brands Hatch decider

Rodin Motorsport driver Louis Sharp clinched the 2024 GB3 Championship in the final race of the season at Brands Hatch.

Needing to finish 11th or higher in the deciding reversed-grid contest to guarantee himself the crown, the British-born New Zealander did what was needed by coming home one place behind his chief rival John Bennett in 10th.

The 17-year-old, who is one of the four finalists for this year’s Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, follows in the footsteps of Luke Browning by winning both the British Formula 4 and GB3 titles, but he is the first driver to achieve the feat back-to-back.

Sharp made the perfect start on stepping up to GB3 this year by winning the season-opener at Oulton Park but he had to wait while to taste victory again. JHR Developments’ Bennett took his maiden triumph in the following race before Tymek Kucharczyk, Will Macintyre and Gerrard Xie helped Hitech GP reel off seven-straight wins.

Kucharczyk and Macintyre both had spells at the top of the standings before Sharp reclaimed the advantage in Hungary, climbing from fifth to first in race two to take his second victory.

A tricky weekend followed for Sharp at Zandvoort, where Kucharczyk took his fourth win of the campaign to gain the ascendancy in the title race once more, but the Pole slipped to third in the points during round six at Silverstone.

Bennett recorded two more successes to move firmly into contention with two rounds remaining before Sharp produced a near-perfect weekend at Donington Park with a brace of victories to head to Brands Hatch with a 33-point lead.

Sharp could only finish seventh in race one at this weekend’s finale after losing out in an opening-lap battle with Kucharczyk, as Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell took his second win of the year, but Sharp responded with his fifth triumph in race two ahead of Bennett and Kucharczyk to set himself up for his title-winning drive in race three.

Granfors wrapped up the GB4 title

Photo by: JEP

The GB4 Championship was also decided on Sunday, with Fortec Motorsports’ Linus Granfors wrapping up the title with one race to spare.

The 17-year-old Swede, who is the younger brother of 2022 GB3 runner-up Joel Granfors, made a strong start to the campaign by winning four races in a row across the first three rounds before a tricky weekend at Snetterton allowed KMR Sport’s Harry Burgoyne and Elite’s Alisha Palmowski to close the points gap.

Granfors responded with two more victories to put himself in pole position for the title heading to the Brands Hatch finale, where he took his fifth and sixth poles of the season in qualifying. Despite slipping to third in race one, second behind KMR’s Lucas Blakeley in race two was enough to be crowned champion.

Palmowski, who missed out being a SABA finalist having been selected in the final 10, pipped Burgoyne to runner-up in the standings in the last race of the season.