Sharp fastest in British F4’s rookie-focused post-season Snetterton test

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Louis Sharp topped British Formula 4’s rookie-focused post-season test at Snetterton this week.

Test action began on Thursday and Sharp led a Carlin 1-2-3 in the first session ahead of Freddie Slater, who came fifth in the 2022 CIK-FIA World Karting Championship for OK karts, and the team’s 2023 driver Dion Gowda.

Just 0.150 seconds split the top two, but Gowda was over two seconds slower than Sharp in a session which took place in tricky conditions.

Sharp was fastest again in the afternoon, this time setting a 1m50.121s lap to head Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Daniel Guinchard by 0.184 seconds. Guinchard had switched from Argenti Motorsport to Virtuosi Racing.

In third and fourth were two Ginetta Junior graduates. Series runner-up Will Macintyre was third, and recently took two podiums on his first weekend in F4 in the GB4 series, while next-highest placed Ginetta rookie Kanato Lee was fourth. The Mark Blundell-managed Japanese tested with Virtuosi at Brands Hatch last week, but like Macintyre was with Hitech at Snetterton.

On Friday morning it was Australian Formula Ford leader Jimmy Piszcyk who got closest to Sharp, lapping 0.354s slower. Piszcyk is missing this weekend’s FFord season finale to test in Britain, so may miss out on the title.

Sharp led Slater again on Friday afternoon, a session in which everyone but Guinchard, Virtuosi team-mate Josh Irfan and French karter Arthur Rogeon (Chris Dittmann Racing) set their fastest laps in.

Hitech’s four-car line-up was completed by Alpine Academy affiliate Matheus Ferreira, while Monica Boulton Ramos and Deagen Fairclough ran with JHR Developments.

The pair will race for free in British F4 next year after winning the ROKiT Racing Star Esports contest, and will drive for the Hitech-run ‘ROKiT F4 Racing’ team. JHR also ran Chloe Chong, a junior karter who is one of the four finalists in the senior group of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s Ferrari Driver Academy-affiliated Girls on Track Rising Stars programme.

Argenti fielded New South Wales FFord championship racer Patrick Heuzenroeder, Skip Barber Formula Race Series leader Elvis Rankin and Harry Burgoyne, who came third in the British championship for X30 Junior karts this year.

Fortec ran Super One Junior ROK karting champion Alfie Briggs and 2023 signing James Higgins, and CDR gave more mileage to its 2022 part-timer Jaden Pariat.

Test results