Sharp leads day two to end GB3’s Donington Park test on top

Photo: Mat Acton

Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp was fastest on day two of GB3’s pre-season test at Donington Park, topping three of the four sessions.

The reigning British Formula 4 champion eclipsed McKenzy Cresswell’s Wednesday benchmark in the opening session, his 1m22.426s lap good enough to end the day 0.183 seconds ahead of Freddie Slater who again tested with Rodin.

Slater exchanged fastest times at the start of session one with Sharp, who led the way after 10 minutes with a 1m23.110s. John Bennett posted a quicker effort of 1m22.922s, and Sharp responded to move within 0.007s of the JHR Developments driver.

Sharp then moved back ahead at the halfway stage with a 1m22.747s before a spin for Elite Motorsport’s Jarrod Waberski caused a red flag stoppage.

Five minutes remained when green flags waved again, but it was enough time for Sharp to post what proved to be the fastest time of the test. Bennett ended the session 0.449s adrift, with Fortec Motorsports’ Edward Pearson improving to third as the chequered flag fell.

Sharp was again fastest ahead of Cresswell in session two with a time 0.2s shy of his earlier morning pace. The final 15 minutes was disrupted by a light rain shower, with only Aditya Kulkarni putting in laps on a damp circuit.

Conditions improved for session three, with many drivers setting their best laps of the day, and Sharp was fastest at first with a 1m22.973s. Slater then moved ahead, and made a slight improvement to end the session on top with a 1m22.619s. His fellow 15-year-old Nikita Johnson was just 0.007s slower.

Following an early red flag period, Johnson’s Arden by VRD team-mate Noah Ping led most of session four with a 1m23.422s. That was eclipsed by Sharp in the final 10 minutes and he improved to 1m22.681s to end the day’s action 0.009s clear of Slater, who edged Johnson to second late on by 0.085s.

Slater and Johnson also finished second and third on the day’s combined timesheet thanks to their best times from session three, and Bennett was fourth ahead of Hitech trio Will Macintyre, Gerrard Xie and Tymek Kucharczyk who were all less than 0.4s off the pace.

Ping was eighth ahead of Waberski and Pearson, who was the only driver other than Sharp to not improve after session one. Cresswell was one of three drivers to post his best time in session two and was 11th fastest, with 0.836s covering the top 17.

Kulkarni tested for Hillspeed on Thursday and was within 1.286s of the pace in 18th, his best lap set in the final session.

Day two results