Teenage rising star Louis Sharp will become the youngest driver to ever compete in the prestigious Race Of Champions taking place at the Accor Stadium in Sydney on 7-8 March.
Not turning 18 until 11 May, Sharp will be the first 17-year-old in history to contest the annual showpiece event which features many of motorsport’s top performers from multiple different disciplines. The previous youngest was Lando Norris, runner-up in last year’s Formula 1 World Championship, who made his ROC debut in Riyadh in 2018 having turned 18 a few months earlier.
In Sydney, Sharp will represent New Zealand, the country of his upbringing, in Friday’s ROC Nations Cup, before going head-to-head with some of the sport’s greatest names in Saturday’s ROC. This year’s star-studded line-up includes four-time F1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel; current F1 ace Valtteri Bottas; nine-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb; seven-time Supercars champion, local Aussie hero Jamie Wincup; former F1 driver, Mick Schumacher and 11-time X Games Gold Medalist, Travis Pastrana.
Louis has earned his selection by winning back-to-back British F4 and GB3 titles, marking him out as one of circuit racing’s most promising young talents – a prominence which most recently saw him presented with the exalted Jim Clark Trophy by the British Racing Drivers Club in London (photo above).
“It’s an incredible honour to have been invited to join such an amazing list of true motorsport heroes in this year’s Race of Champions,” said an excited Sharp. “It’s crazy to think I was born in the same year Sebastian Vettel won his first ROC Nations Cup title, and I now get to race against the very icons grew up admiring.”
Although Louis was born in the UK, he was raised in New Zealand where he started racing karts aged just six before moving back to London in 2023 to further his single-seater career with notable successes. Through his Kiwi heritage, Sharp will be reunited with another of his boyhood heroes in Sydney, rally champion Hayden Paddon, to represent New Zealand in the ROC Nations Cup.
Intriguingly, this will not be the first time that the pair have been team-mates. Back in 2019, at the tender age of just 12, Sharp was co-driver for Paddon in the NZ Ashley Forest Rallysprint… which they won!
“It’s great to be teaming up with Louis again,” admitted Paddon. “I’ve been amazed to see his progression since he once co-drove for me. He looks destined to be in F1 if he continues doing what he is doing.”
Fredrik Johnsson, Race of Champions President and Co-Founder is another backing Louis to reach the top – hence the prized invitation to compete in this year’s coveted event.
“I don’t want to put any additional pressure on Louis but this young man seems spectacularly quick and mature for his age,” explained Johnsson. “Every now and again a young talent comes along that deserves your attention; Louis certainly falls into that category and we are delighted to be able to invite him to our first Race Of Champions in the Southern Hemisphere. It will be a perfect opportunity for him to meet some of his childhood heroes like Sebastian Vettel and for the world to discover this future star.
“Louis has been nominated by critics as an F1 star of the future and I have little doubt that in a few years’ time we will be saying ‘I saw that kid for the first time at the Race Of Champions at Accor Stadium in Sydney’."