Sharp slices through to victory in GB3 race two at the Hungaroring
A sensational opening lap for Rodin Motorsport's Louis Sharp propelled the New Zealander to his second victory of the season in GB3 Championship race two at the Hungaroring on Sunday morning.
From fifth on the grid, he was already up to second inside the first sector, including a daring pass on championship leader Tymek Kucharczyk at turn three, before taking the lead moments later. From there he built a lead and claimed victory almost two seconds ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight duo Kucharczyk and Will Macintyre.
Hitech's pole-sitter Gerrard Xie made a good start to lead the pack down to turn one, but entering the braking zone Sharp was already challenging for third place and made his first move by passing Macintyre around the outside. He then tried the same tactic on Kucharczyk at turn two, as he swooped around the outside and gained the place with the inside line at turn three.
A strong exit from turn five then allowed Sharp to challenge into the chicane, where he passed Xie to take the lead, with the race one winner encountering issues at the same time and dropping to the back and the pit lane. Rampant after his stunning opening lap, Sharp then pulled away and crossed the line after the first lap with an eight-tenth margin to Kucharczyk.
The gap stabilised at around a second across the opening half of the contest, before the Kiwi pulled away to take the flag two seconds clear, earning his first victory since the season opener at Oulton Park and moving up to second in the championship. Kucharczyk replicated his second place from race one to bank more strong points to further extend his championship lead, with Will Macintyre third and taking his first podium of the weekend.
Elite's McKenzy Cresswell claimed fourth, a second clear of JHR Development's Patrick Heuzenroeder, who continued his best weekend of the season so far with fifth place. The second Elite car of Jarrod Waberski completed the top-six, 0.3 seconds ahead of JHR's John Bennett, who found his way past VRD Racing by Arden's Noah Ping late on. Rodin's James Hedley and the third Elite car of Hugo Schwarze completed the race two top-10.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Hungaroring race two provisional results:
1. Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, 11 laps
2. Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +1.995s
3. Will Macintyre, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +2.102s
4. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +10.606s
5. Patrick Heuzenroeder, JHR Developments, +11.808s
6. Jarrod Waberski, Elite Motorsport, +15.705s
7. John Bennett, JHR Developments, +16.043s
8. Noah Ping, VRD Racing by Arden, +20.089s
9. James Hedley, Rodin Motorsport, +20.928s
10. Hugo Schwarze, Elite Motorsport, +21.697s
11. Shawn Rashid, VRD Racing by Arden, +22.565s
12. Josh Irfan, JHR Developments, +26.324s
13. Nikita Johnson, VRD Racing by Arden, +28.208s
14. Colin Queen, Fortec Motorsport, +30.527s
15. Javier Sagrera, Chris Dittmann Racing, +32.614s
16. Seb Murray, Chris Dittmann Racing, +33.091s
17. Edward Pearson, Fortec Motorsport, +33.751s
18. Flynn Jackes, Chris Dittmann Racing, +34.545s
19. Aditya Kulkarni, Hillspeed, +35.792s
20. Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +1m32.429s
NC. Arthur Rogeon, Rodin Motorsport, +4 laps