Sharp ready to fight for points after hard work from Rodin Motorsport

It was a good day for Louis Sharp as the Rodin Motorsport driver secured his best Qualifying result of the season so far.

P5 in the order was a great result and meant he was the lead Rodin driver on the grid around Imola, a circuit he’s never visited before.

Speaking after the session, the New Zealander said that it had been a long time coming after showing bursts of pace already this season but having not had the results to show for it.

“Pretty proud of that effort. First time racing here so to be P5, I’m really happy. It’s been coming all year. Obviously, we’re only three rounds in, but for sure the first two rounds we were fast, like in Melbourne, where we 100% had it in us to be this high up, but just got a bit unlucky with Red Flags not going our way.

“To finally put a good Qualifying session together and to tick that off, I’m really happy. Big thank you to the team, they’ve given me a great car this year, but especially today. I’m really happy because the team were working really hard behind the scenes.”

The Qualifying session was interrupted by a late Red Flag ahead of the final flying laps, heaping even more pressure on all of the drivers.

The Rodin driver had extra weight on his shoulders, having not been able to put together a lap prior to the stoppage to leave him inside the top 12.

Explaining just how he approached the final laps, Sharp said that despite his inexperience, he felt in the rhythm of things in what was just his third F3 Qualifying session.

“It’s definitely tough to manage. But Formula 3 Qualifying sessions are always like that. Although I’m new to Formula 3, I’m kind of getting the full experience so it’s definitely tough.

“My second push I didn’t get to finish because of the Red Flag. So I was going into that final push without a proper banker on the board.

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“Had there been another mistake or another Red Flag or something else gone wrong, I could have easily been fifteenth or even lower. So it’s tough to manage these things with how competitive it is, but the team did a good job with the strategy, got me out in clean air and I was able to do the lap.”

Sharp’s strong result was heralded over the team radio by his race engineer, who the New Zealand driver says has been a huge help in his adaptation to F3 so far.

“My engineer Nico, he’s Italian and being in Imola, he was very passionate. He’s a really good engineer and definitely pushing me a lot. It’s nice to have those words of encouragement and it definitely helps.”

Looking ahead to the remaining races this weekend, Sharp says that he is eager to get some strong results under his belt considering his tough start to 2025.

Maximising his starting position in the Sprint Race is the target going into Saturday, and the Rodin driver says he could wind up taking risks on Sunday depending on how things work out in the Sprint.

“P5 in the main race and P7 or in the Sprint Race, so two good positions, to be honest. Like I said, it's been a tricky start, so I just need to get some decent points this weekend.

“I want to be fighting forward, especially in the main race, close to the podium. So, we'll see what we can do. But I just need to put together a weekend, stay out of trouble and get some good points the board and then we can start maybe taking more risks.”