Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp clinched the 2024 GB3 Championship in last weekend’s deciding race at Brands Hatch. The British-born New Zealander, who is one of four finalists for this year’s Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, followed 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 headed into the final event with a 33-point lead over JHR Developments’ John Bennett, with Hitech GP duo Tymek Kucharczyk and Will Macintyre also in contention. But the quartet were upstaged early in the weekend by Elite Motorsport’s McKenzy Cresswell, who qualified on pole for race one and duly converted it into his second victory of the campaign after resisting a first-corner challenge from Bennett.
Sharp ran wide on the first lap at Graham Hill Bend while battling with Kucharczyk and slipped to eighth before recovering one place late on when Hitech’s Gerrard Xie crashed with rear-suspension failure.
Elite’s Hugo Schwarze matched his best result by coming home fourth behind Kucharczyk, while Macintyre’s remote title chances came to an end as he finished fifth. VRD by Arden’s Nikita Johnson climbed from 12th to sixth, and reigning champion Callum Voisin – making a one-off series return for Rodin following his race-winning FIA F3 campaign – followed his team-mate Arthur Rogeon home in ninth.
Having taken pole for race two, Sharp notched up his fifth win following an early safety car period, while Bennett finished behind him to ensure the championship fight went down to the wire. Kucharczyk again completed the podium places, but the Polish racer’s title hopes were extinguished.
Cresswell lost two places at the start before finishing fourth ahead of team-mate Jarrod Waberski, while Rogeon made an opening-lap pass on Schwarze before coming home sixth.Schwarze lost further ground to VRD’s Noah Ping, who made up six places to seventh, while an optimistic early lunge from Macintyre resulted in both his team-mate Xie and James Hedley – making a GB3 return with Chris Dittmann Racing – retiring.
There was an early safety car period in the partially reversed-grid finale after VRD by Arden team-mates Shawn Rashid and Ping collided shortly after the start, as Schwarze spun out with a puncture at Druids.
Having led away from pole, Johnson resisted race-long pressure from Voisin to take his second win of the campaign, while Rogeon joined the lead battle early on before fading in third.
Waberski was fourth ahead of Macintyre, the pair having had a thrilling side-by-side tussle through Hawthorn and Westfeld before the latter conceded. JHR’s Patrick Heuzenroeder lost out to Macintyre following the safety car restart and took sixth ahead of Xie and Kucharczyk. Needing to finish 11th or higher, Sharp lost out to Bennett on the opening lap before following his rival home in 10th to wrap up the title.
“I really can’t describe the feeling I’m getting right now,” said Sharp. “To get back-to-back British titles in consecutive years, I don’t think many people have done that, especially in single-seaters.”
British GT3: Collards seal GT3 title as RJN wins at Brands
Father-and-son Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini pairing Rob and Ricky Collard clinched the 2024 British GT3 title after finishing fifth in last Sunday’s two-hour Brands Hatch season finale.
With race winners Alex Buncombe and series debutant Josh Caygill ineligible for points in their RJN Motorsport McLaren, it left the Collard family five points ahead of Sandy Mitchell and Alex Martin, who finished second on-track in an anti-climactic title decider but collected a maximum score in the sister Barwell Huracan GT3 Evo2.
The Collards are the second father-son pairing to claim the GT3 crown, after Jim and Glynn Geddie in 2011, and Collard Sr is now a two-time series champion after winning the title with Mitchell in 2020. “It feels so unreal and it hasn’t sunk in yet,” said former BTCC ace Rob, who joins Jonny Adam and Andrew Howard as the only drivers to win the GT3 crown multiple times. “I’m absolutely delighted that I’ve been able to win for a second time. To win it with my son is absolutely a dream come true and quite emotional when we got out the car.”
The duo arrived at Brands Hatch with a 24.5-point championship lead. Such a large margin had never been overturned on the final day before, despite title deciders often throwing up surprises. That happened on Saturday when the Collards’ Huracan suffered an engine failure in first practice, meaning they managed just eight laps across the opening two sessions compared to 68 for the sister Lambo.
Collard Sr said it “unbuckled all of our hard work for the season” and put them “massively on the back foot” for qualifying, but the champions-elect still started a respectable sixth, while Mitchell and Martin were third. The latter pair needed to finish first or second to stand any chance of winning the title, while a top-five or top-nine finish, respectively, would suffice for the Collards.
Both Lamborghinis gained a position on the second lap, Martin overtaking Morgan Tillbrook (Garage 59 McLaren) down the inside of Paddock Hill Bend to claim second, while immediately behind Kevin Tse spun after contact from Mark Radcliffe (Optimum McLaren), who assumed fourth position. This put the race under safety car conditions and the green flag returned eight minutes in, at which point polesitter Caygill remained ahead of Martin, with Collard Sr circulating in fifth.
That became fourth after 24 minutes when Collard overtook Radcliffe on the inside of Paddock Hill Bend, with Richard Neary (Abba Mercedes) following through moments later. The 55-year-old was on a charge and Paddock was the prime overtaking spot. A few laps later, Collard passed Tillbrook there for third.
Collard soon closed in on the nose-to-tail battle for the lead, and was just a second behind Caygill after 48 minutes. Just a minute later, the race was under a full-course yellow after Simon Orange crashed his McLaren heavily into the Stirlings tyre barrier. All cars made their mandatory pitstops under the FCY – this benefited the Collards, who were serving a 20s compensation penalty for winning the previous race at Donington Park – before the field was bunched up behind the safety car for the restart.
Collard Jr had therefore dropped only to fifth once the race resumed with a little over 40 minutes to go, while Buncombe led Mitchell, Marcus Clutton (in for Tillbrook) and Sam Neary (in for father Richard). But another FCY followed shortly afterwards due to a three-car GT4 collision at Stirlings, which left a 12-minute sprint to the finish. The top four all held station, Buncombe withstanding pressure from Mitchell to score RJN’s first win since the 2020 season-opener at Oulton Park after a stop-start season with multiple drivers. Clutton and Tillbrook completed the podium.
The focus was largely on Collard Jr who, despite ceding fifth position to Radcliffe’s co-driver Tom Gamble into Paddock, was still able to clinch the championship. The Collards were soon pushed back up to fifth overall when the Optimum pairing received a post-race 37s penalty because Radcliffe’s stint was seven seconds too short.
“It’s a huge relief,” said an emotional Collard Jr. “It was not the start to the weekend that we wanted and then everything was up against us and we still managed to get the result that counted. We’re British GT champions and it’s insane to be able to say it. It just shows that, if you put the hours in and get a dream, the dream can become a reality.”
British GT4: Meakin and Brown take glory
Optimum Motorsport duo Zac Meakin and Jack Brown claimed a maiden British GT4 Championship title after winning the two-hour season finale at Brands Hatch. The McLaren Artura drivers finished a stunning 74.372s ahead of title rivals Jamie Day and Mikey Porter (Forsetti Aston Martin), while Race Lab McLaren pair Callum Davies and Sai Sanjay took their first podium.
It comes a year after a flat battery at the Donington Park season finale lost Brown and former co-driver Charles Clark the 2023 title, despite leading for most of the season. “It feels unbelievable,” said Brown. “It’s what I’ve been working towards for the past 10 years. Last year was a massive letdown, but this year it’s all been made up for.”
Four crews arrived still contending for the title. Day and Porter led Optimum’s pair by 3.5 points, with Team Parker Mercedes duo Seb Morris and Charles Dawson a further four behind. William Orton and Marc Warren were 13.5 off the top, but their Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martin retired on the opening lap when Warren hit the back of Marco Signoretti’s Ford Mustang into Druids.
This left three fighting for the championship, yet Team Parker had slim hopes as Dawson ran fourth behind leader Day, Davies and Meakin, who had started on pole. Meakin reclaimed second 12 minutes in with by overtaking Davies down the inside of Druids, creating a thrilling battle between himself and Day for the lead. The fight was aggressive at times as Day delivered a robust defence, which earned him a black-and-white warning flag for driving standards, but at the half-hour mark Meakin was finally ahead with a move at Surtees.
The eventual champion gained 20 seconds before the hour, as driver swaps happened under a full-course yellow due to a GT3 crash. This became a safety car for the restart and Optimum had gained a lap by default after pitting early, with Brown rejoining just ahead of the overall race-leading RJN McLaren. Optimum boss Shaun Goff called it “overdue luck”, but the drama wasn’t over yet.
Just a few minutes after the restart, Matt Cowley, Gordie Mutch and Matt Nicoll-Jones all collided at Stirlings. The subsequent FCY turned into a safety car and left a 12-minute dash to the end. Yet Brown remained well clear to claim a fourth victory of the season, which resulted in a seven-point championship win.
Porter finished 3.142s ahead of Sanjay, who just held on from the charging RAM Racing Mercedes of Luca Hopkinson and Harry George. The Team Parker Mercedes came home eighth after serving an extra 15s in the pitstop for its second-place finish at Donington.
