GB3 Championship leader Louis Sharp has been named as one of the four finalists for this year's Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.
The most prestigious prize in junior motorsport has been won by drivers from the GB3 Championship and its predecessors on eight of the past nine stagings, with Zak O’Sullivan (2021), Luke Browning (2022) and Joseph Loake (2023) the most recent winners.
A cash prize of £200,000 is handed to the overall winner, plus a test with the Aston Martin Aramco F1 team, in addition to full membership of the BRDC.
Though brought up in New Zealand, Sharp qualifies for the prize, which aims to find and assist the best junior British racing driver, as he was born in Nottingham, before his family moved abroad. Sharp leads the GB3 standings by 33 points heading into this weekend's Brands Hatch season finale.
He will now gear up for final assessments, which will once more take place on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, with drivers testing GT3 and LMP3 machinery, plus MSV’s F2 cars, following additional off-track elements including fitness tests.
“I’m obviously delighted to have been recognised by the judges for such a prestigious award – it’s very special to me,” admitted Sharp. “At this stage it’s only the top four, so it’s going to be important to keep working and training hard, so I can give it my everything at Silverstone.
“I’m really looking forward the competition. I’ll be driving three cars that I haven’t driven before – in fact, I’ve never driven a competition car with a roof over my head, so the LMP3 and the GT car will be a bit of a challenge. There’s going to be a lot to learn and some of the finalists may have a little bit of an advantage having driven these cars before but, it’s a massive honour to be selected and I’m determined to enjoy what’s going to be a really exciting experience.”
Freddie Slater, who raced in GB3 at Donington Park last time out, has also been named as one of the four finalists.
The panel of judges will again be headed by BRDC vice-president Derek Warwick, with former award winners Andrew Kirkaldy, Alexander Sims, Dario Franchitti and Darren Turner also in the line-up. F1 race-winner Johnny Herbert, successful McLaren designer Mark Williams, leading engineer Leena Gade, commentator Ian Titchmarsh and Autosport Chief Editor Kevin Turner complete the panel.
While selecting the final four, judges reserve the right to introduce a wild card entry for drivers excelling in the closing stages of the season.
The winner will be announced at the Autosport Awards in January.