GB3 champion Luke Browning and series alumni Louis Foster, Ollie Bearman and Jamie Chadwick will discover whether they are the latest winner of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award on Sunday evening (4 December).
The quartet are gunning for the biggest prize in UK junior motorsport, previously won by F1 stars David Coulthard, Jenson Button, George Russell and Lando Norris. GB3 alumni have won the award on six of the last seven occasions, with Zak O’Sullivan the most recent victor.
A cash sum of £200,000 plus an Aston Martin F1 test, full British Racing Drivers’ Club membership and an Arai helmet awaits this year’s winner, set to be announced at the glittering Autosport Awards ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
All four contenders took part in a two day on-track assessment at Silverstone in MSV F2, United Autosports Ligier LMP3 and Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 cars, as well as fitness and simulator elements.
A panel of expert judges presided over the tests, including BRDC vice-president Derek Warwick, previous award winners Dario Franchitti, Darren Turner, Andrew Kirkaldy and Alexander Sims, BTCC legend Jason Plato, successful Lola and McLaren designer Mark Williams, Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade, leading commentator Ian Titchmarsh and Autosport editor Kevin Turner.
Browning, who won the 2022 GB3 title with five wins and eight additional podiums, is a finalist for the first time after his stellar season in Britain’s premier single-seater category. Bearman, Chadwick and Foster are all returning finalists.
Chadwick was a BRDC British F3 race winner in 2018, and has since dominated W Series, Foster was a series front-runner in 2020 and is the new IndyPro 2000 champion, while Bearman participated in nine GB3 races in 2021, and very nearly clinched the FIA F3 title in 2022.
The official GB3 website will share news should Browning scoop the prize on Sunday evening.