2024 GB3 Champion Louis Sharp, just 17, will join one of his boyhood racing heroes in rally ace Hayden Paddon as part of Team New Zealand for the 33rd edition of the ROC stadium spectacular which will include some of the biggest names in world motorsport
At the 2025 Race Of Champions Sharp will compete against no less than:
4-time Formula 1 World Champion - Sebastian Vettel
Formula 1 Ace - Valtteri Bottas
9-time FIA World Rally Champion - Sebastien Loeb
7-time Supercar Champion - Jamie Whincup
Reigning Supercars champion - Will Brown
Extreme E champion - Molly Taylor
11-time X-Games Gold medalist - Travis Pastrana
Former F1 driver and current WEC driver - Mick Schumacher
7-time FIA World Rallycross Champion - Johan Kristoffersson
2-time European Rally Champion - Hayden Paddon
Father and son rally champions Petter and Oliver Solberg
2-time Dakar winner - Toby Price
Nascar Champion Kurt Busch
4-time ROC 'Champion of Champions' Mattias Ekström
Accor Stadium to be turned into a spectacular 1km asphalt race track when this unique event is hosted for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere
More superstars from Formula 1, Supercars, Le Mans, Nascar, World Rally & Rally X to be announced in coming weeks.
Tickets from $49 now on sale through Ticketek.
Young Kiwi star Louis Sharp to be youngest ever Race Of Champions starter
Teenage Kiwi open-wheel driver Louis Sharp will become the youngest driver to ever compete in the internationally-acclaimed Race Of Champions at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, March 7-8.
Sharp moved to England two years ago and has since won the 2023 British F4 Championship and 2024 GB3 titles.
Sharp, who will celebrate his 18th birthday on May 11, will join one of his boyhood racing heroes in rally ace Hayden Paddon as part of Team New Zealand for the 33rd edition of the spectacular Race Of Champions, which will include some of the biggest names in world motorsport.
On his ROC debut, Sharp will represent New Zealand in the ROC Nations Cup on Friday March 7, before going head-to-head with some of world motorsport’s most accomplished stars on Saturday 8th March, including four-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel; current F1 ace Valtteri Bottas; seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, nine-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb; former FIA F2 champion and F1 driver, Mick Schumacher, NASCAR star Kurt Busch and 11-time X Games Gold Medalist and action sports legend Travis Pastrana.
Sharp, born in Britain, but raised in Christchurch New Zealand, started his career in karts and moved back to the UK in 2023 where he won the British F4 title.
Motorsport News voted Sharp as (British) National Racing Driver of the Year for 2023, becoming the youngest ever driver to win the award, the first from outside Europe and the first single seater winner. He was also awarded the Henry Surtees Award, an accolade handed out by the British Racing Drivers' Club for the most outstanding performance by a member of the BRDC Rising Stars initiative.
Last year Sharp stepped up to GB3 (British F3) and won the title to become the first driver to win back-to-back British formula championships since Ayrton Senna.
In his GB3 debut at Oulton Park Sharp won the double pole and beat Lando Norris’ long-standing qualifying pole margin. He went on to become the first rookie and youngest driver to win the GB3 crown.
Ironically, Norris was the previous youngest ever ROC competitor, having turned 18 a few months before his ROC debut in Riyadh in 2018.
Shortly after clinching the GB3 title, it was announced that Sharp would compete in this year’s FIA Formula 3 championship with Rodin Motorsport, which is owned by Kiwi entrepreneur David Dicker.
Ironically, this will not be the first time that Sharp and Paddon have been teammates.
In 2019, at the tender age of just 12, Sharp was co-driver for Paddon in the NZ Ashley Forest Rallysprint - which they won!
In Sydney, Sharp and Paddon will be going head to head with no less than four-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel; current F1 ace Valtteri Bottas; seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, reigning Supercars champion Will Brown, Extreme E champion Molly Taylor, nine-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb; seven-time FIA World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson; former FIA F2 champion and F1 driver, Mick Schumacher, two-time Dakar winner Toby Price, NASCAR star Kurt Busch and 11-time X Games Gold Medalist and action sports legend Travis Pastrana and four-time ROC champion Mattias Ekström.
The Race Of Champions will run over two nights with a purpose-built 1km tarmac track taking centre stage at Accor Stadium, Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.
What Louis Sharp said:
“Teaming up with Hayden Paddon to represent New Zealand in our first-ever Nations Cup at ROC— this is something special,” said Sharp.
"It's crazy to think I was born the same year Sebastian Vettel won his first ROC Nations Cup title, and now I get to race against the very icons I grew up admiring.”
"With Race Of champions making its debut down under, I hope we see plenty of Kiwi flags flying high in Sydney.”
What Hayden Paddon said:
“It’s a hugely proud moment for both Louis and myself to represent NZ for the first time at Race Of Champions,” said Sharp.
"We will both be giving it our all to try and beat the other nations’ teams in what is a fiercely competitive field.”
"It’s also great to team up with Louis again, who actually co-drove for me once when he was just 12 years old.”
"It’s amazing to see his progression and success. He looks destined to be in F1 if he continues doing what he is doing.”
Fredrik Johnsson, Race Of Champions President and Co-Founder said:
“I don’t want to put any additional pressure on Louis or fear into the Australians… but this young man seems spectacularly quick and mature for his age,” said Johnsson.
“He has won every championship he has competed in since moving to England, and at the end of the season Euro Formula test at Monza he was quickest, 1/10th faster than Ollie Bearman who tested the same car as Louis for the same team."
“Every now and again a young talent comes along that deserves your attention, Louis certainly falls into that category and we are delighted to be able to invite him to our first Race Of Champions in the Southern Hemisphere. It will be a perfect opportunity for him to meet some of his childhood heroes like Sebastian Vettel and for the world to discover this future star."
“Louis has been nominated by critics as an F1 star of the future and I have little doubt that in a few years time we will be saying ‘I saw that kid for the first time at the Race Of Champions at Accor Stadium in Sydney’."
ROC SYDNEY 2025
The ROC Nations Cup takes place on Friday March 7, with drivers paired in teams based on nationality to bid for the title of ‘World’s Fastest Nation’.
The Saturday night (March 8) will see the individual Race Of Champions, when all teamwork goes out of the window and it will be a battle for individual glory and the ‘Champion of Champions’ title.
ROC is renowned for gathering some of the best drivers in the world, including superstars from Formula 1, Le Mans, Nascar, Supercars, World Rally and Rallycross.
Hospitality and Track side packages and General Admission Tickets starting from $49.00 for children and $69.00 for adults. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Friday 7th March - ROC Nations Cup – to crown the world's fastest NationAccor Stadium, Sydney
Doors Open 5:30pm
Show Starts 6:30pm*
Race Starts 7:30pm
Saturday 8th March – Race Of Champions – to crown the "Champion of Champions"Accor Stadium, Sydney
Doors open 5:30pm
Show Starts 6:30pm*
Race Starts 7.30pm