Sharp straight to the point with opening round victory at Oulton Park
Rodin Motorsport’s reigning British F4 champion Louis Sharp stormed to victory on his GB3 debut, after a perfect start to his campaign in Cheshire. The New Zealander claimed pole position for races one and two in qualifying this morning and made the most of it to convert the first into victory this afternoon.
Qualifying
Sharp was almost unstoppable right from the off in qualifying, at one point holding a half-second advantage over the rest of the field. While his eventual pole margin was eventually reduced to 0.287s, that gap was still the largest in the series at Oulton Park since 2016.
JHR’s John Bennett put his car second on the grid, with McLaren junior Ugo Ugochukwu third in the second Rodin car. Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Gerrard Xie was fourth, just 0.008s ahead of Elite’s McKenzy Cresswell. Tymek Kucharczyk completed the top six for race one for Hitech.
Each driver’s second quickest times in the session will form the race two grid, and Sharp was again ahead of Bennett, with Xie rising to third ahead of Ugochukwu. Cresswell is fifth once more ahead of Kucharczyk.
Race one
Sharp made a good enough getaway from pole but had to rebuff a stern challenge from Bennett at Old Hall and Cascades on the first lap. Having resisted, he was then aided by the appearance of the safety car after an incident between Aditya Kulkarni and James Hedley at Shell Oils.
Sharp made a strong restart to lead the field away at the front, and gradually built up his lead to 1.4 seconds by the end of the contest, as he stretched away from Bennett, who held on to second after a strong early challenge from Ugochukwu, who took a podium on his series debut.
Xie took a strong fourth place for Hitech, holding off Cresswell and Kucharczyk who completed the top six.
The second race of the weekend is due to commence at 9.30 am on Monday morning, with Sharp aiming to claim his second win from pole once more.
Race winner Louis Sharp said: "It's a dream start to the championship, after practice I knew our pace was going to be good. Obviously to get pole position by three-tenths of a second was a bit of a surprise for me actually, and it showed the pace that we did have.
“It was a good race, my first start in GB3 wasn't ideal, it wasn't the best getaway and I had a bit of pressure from John into the first two corners. But I was able to just stay in front from that point onwards. Obviously, there was a safety car at the start too, so I've pretty much experienced it all in the first race! But I kept it clean, minimised mistakes and I knew the pace was good.”
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Oulton Park qualifying top-six:
1. Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, 1m29s.292
2. John Bennett, JHR Developments, +0.287s
3. Ugo Ugochukwu, Rodin Motorsport, +0.399s
4. Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.513s
5. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +0.521s
6. Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +0.569s
Click here for full results
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Oulton Park race one top-six:
1. Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, 11 laps
2. John Bennett, JHR Developments, +1.433s
3. Ugo Ugochukwu, Rodin Motorsport, +3.440s
4. Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +4.044s
5. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, +4.920s
6. Tymek Kucharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, +5.663s
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GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, championship standings after race one of 24
1. Louis Sharp, Rodin Motorsport, 35pts
2. John Bennett, JHR Developments, 29pts
3. Ugo Ugochukwu, Rodin Motorsport, 24pts
4. Gerrard Xie, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 21pts
5. McKenzy Cresswell, Elite Motorsport, 19pts
6. Tymek Kycharczyk, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 17pts
Click here for full standings