Rodin Motorsport has announced GB3 Champion Louis Sharp will drive for the team in the FIA Formula 3 championship in 2025.

The British-born New Zealander graduates to F3 after a successful GB3 campaign in which he won five races, with a further five podiums, taking the title at the final round at Brands Hatch last weekend.

Sharp had previously won the British F4 title with Rodin Carlin in 2022, and joins esteemed company such as Daniel Ricciardo, George Russell and Lando Norris who enjoyed relationships with the manufacturer in their junior years.

In a statement, Sharp said: “I’m obviously excited to be making the next step up to FIA Formula 4 – even more so as I’m back with Rodin Motorsport which has been such an important factor in all my successes to date.

“Though I’m still coming to terms with what I’ve achieve winning back-to-back titles, I’m already starting to concentrate on what’s ahead.

“I’m really looking forward to be racing alongside Grands Prix in 2026 and will do everything I can to maintain my current momentum.

“I’m now looking forward to starting my F3 preparations later this month in Spain and confident both the team and I will be ready hen the lights go out in Australia.”

Rodin owner David Dicker said that Sharp “has been such an exciting young talent to watch develop over the years” and was “looking forward to seeing him back out on track.”

Sharp also received praise from the F3 Team Manager Sam Waple, who said: “Having the new chassis will provide a level playing field for the rookies and Louis has shown throughout his British F4 and GB3 campaigns how quickly he adapt to new cars and tracks.

“We are really looking forward to working with Louis once again.”

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Rodin’s Callum Voisin won his maiden FIA Formula 3 race in a Spa-Francorchamps Feature dominated by Safety Car cautions.

Voisin kept his cool to lead Sebastian Montoya and Leonardo Fornaroli over the line, as the latter’s title rivals had forgettable races.

The sun shone through misty skies Sunday morning as the F3 field rolled out of pit lane, but there were still damp patches littered around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Voisin lined up from pole, with the championship contenders scattered throughout the grid.

Prema’s trio of drivers had lowly starting berths, points leader Gabriele Mini lining up 11th alongside team-mate and Sprint Winner Dino Beganovic in 12th.

Meanwhile, Arvid Lindblad started from 27th on the grid, but he had made light work of charging through to just outside the points in Saturday’s Sprint.

Fornaroli and Luke Browning had more favourable starting positions, third and seventh respectively.

Voisin led calmly at lights out, but McLaren junior Alexander Dunne, starting alongside him, fell to fourth behind Campos’ Montoya and Trident’s Fornaroli as further back there was drama at La Source.

Mini, starting mid-pack, got spun out and dropped down to 29th at La Source.

Oliver Goethe and Cian Shields also wound up with punctures in the opening lap chaos.

Out front, Voisin and Montoya went straight on at Les Combes proving how tricky the damp conditions were at the start of the 15 lap race.

By the start of Lap 3, the Safety Car was called into action for the first time with Tuukka Taponen and Martinius Stenshorne colliding, the latter spinning and the former left with nowhere to go at Stavelot.

As the field toured the circuit under caution, Voisin led from Montoya and Fornaroli with Dunne and Sami Meguetounif completing the top five.

Browning was circulating in seventh, Beganovic 13th, Lindblad 15th and Mini still a lowly 21st.

As it stood, Mini would surrender the championship lead to Fornaroli by a single point.

On Lap 6 of 15, race direction declared the Safety Car period would end, allowing for a sprint in all but name to close out proceedings.

Voisin backed up the field, weaving to and fro ahead of the final chicane, which is where he decided to pull the pin and lead the field back to racing speeds.

The top three held their positions through the opening portion of Lap 7, but Dunne lost fourth to Meguetounif at Les Combes.

But only after half a lap of green flag running, the Safety Car was called into action again, with Sophia Floersch and Jospeh Loake tangling at Rivaeg, the Alpine Junior’s race ending in the gravel and Loake touring slowly around the rest of the circuit at the back of the field.

This time, the Safety Car was called in at the end of Lap 9 with Voisin once again tasked with restarting the race.

Once again he backed up the field, but this time around he roared back to racing speeds ahead of the final chicane and the tactic proved fruitful as he comfortably led at the start of Lap 10.

Lindblad chances of scoring were dashed as he was tagged by Christian Mansell at Rivage and then Mari Boya stuffed his Campos car into the barriers at Speakers Corner, triggering the third Safety Car of the race.

Replays showed Boya, suffering from a puncture after being tagged by Charlie Wurz, was powerless to control his lame Campos machine as it strayed into the gravel and latterly the barriers.

Lap 13, and the Safety Car was called in, but whether the F3 field could complete two clean laps of running to complete the race was an important question.

Voisin pulled the pin even earlier this time around, getting up to speed around Blanchimont and again, leading comfortably through La Source.

The Rodin driver kept Montoya at bay through the Kemmel straight and Les Combes, but Meguetounif had no such luck with Van Amersfoort’s Noel Leon, surrendering fourth place.

Voisin had the gap to in front up to eight-tenths of a second for the start of the final lap as DRS was enabled.

But it was no matter as the Briton kept calm and collected to bag his maiden F3 win with Montoya and Fornaroli completing the podium and reclaiming the championship lead.

Leon took fourth ahead of Meguetounif and Hitech’s Browning.

Jenzer’s Max Esterson, Trident’s Santiago Ramos and MP Motorsport duo Tim Tramnitz and Dunne rounded out the top-10 as Mini’s fightback ended in 13th.

Despite going scoreless, Prema bagged the Team’s Championship with a round to spare, the Italian outfit’s fifth such success in the modern F3 era.

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Rodin’s Zane Maloney said “I don’t think I ever left the championship fight” despite surrendering an early lead in the FIA Formula 2 Drivers’ standings but falling to fourth before this weekend’s action at the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Maloney got off to a flying start this F2 campaign, completing a double victory at the season-opening round in Bahrain.

Consistent early season results saw him maintain that championship lead, but a dip in form in recent rounds save for a double podium finish at Silverstone, has seen the Barbadian slip to fourth in the Drivers’ standings.

Still, with a tally of 101 points, 39 behind championship leader Isack Hadjar, Maloney acknowledged that even with a patchy run of results, he is very much within the title picture.

“I don’t think I ever left the championship fight,” Maloney told select media including Motorsport Week.

“I mean until you get to a stage where it’s really unrealistic, I think you’re always in that fight.

“Of course the wins in Bahrain, then the podiums, double podium in Silverstone, podium in Imola, they came right after each other.

“But if you were to dig in at every detail of why we haven’t been on the podium when we haven’t, I think sometimes, of course, you would understand that it’s from my side or the pace, and then other times it was out of our control.”

Maloney said he’s “approaching this weekend the same” at Spa-Francorchamps after a disappointing outing at Hungary.

“I mean, last weekend, I think it was quite clear that two podiums were on the cards, but yeah, we came out of the weekend with zero points,” the Sauber Academy Driver said.

“So I’d say that we’re in a good place. The pace is strong. The mentality is the same within the team as it has been when we won both races in Bahrain.

“So we’re just looking forward to kind of getting it on a sheet of paper because it means nothing without that. But yeah, other than the sheet of paper, everything’s going very well.”

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Abbi Pulling has her sights set on a second successive double race victory after leading lights to flag in Race 1 of F1 Academy Round 3 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday and is ready to meet the “challenge” of Sunday’s Race 2.

Pulling led Saturday’s Race 1 from pole position, and calmly held that lead after an early safety car period.

The Alpine-backed Rodin drive was unopposed for the rest of the race to take her fourth win in a row, extending her championship lead to 56 points over Doriane Pin.

“I think if it wasn’t for [pole] we would have struggled a bit more,” Pulling told Motorsport Week after Saturday’s race.

“It’s hard to follow around here so you’ve got to kind of qualify well or it becomes pretty tough after that.

“The race [win] was lights to flag, couldn’t ask for much more.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s Race 2 the prospect is altogether different.

Pulling still starts from pole thanks to her second-best effort in Friday’s qualifying session, but that doesn’t make the race a foregone conclusion.

Lights out is at 08:50 local time on Sunday, as opposed to 18:00 on Saturday, meaning track temperatures will be drastically different and rain could potentially interfere as well.

Still, Pulling isn’t let that dampen her spirits.

“Yeah, I think I’ll make sure I go into it being adaptable,” the Alpine Academy Driver said.

“I think that’s one of my strengths and it’s potentially going to be a wet race and I’m British so it’s nothing that scares me off and makes me hide away.

“It’s something that I welcome and I think it’ll be a good challenge.

“I’ve never driven this track in the wet, like most of us and I always like to welcome a challenge.”

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Rodin Motorsport driver Zane Maloney delves into his ambitions for the Formula 2 season, sharing his goals for a comeback in the Drivers Standings.

After dominating the opening round of the Formula 2 season in Sakhir, the 20-year-old Barbadian driver led the F2 Drivers’ Standings.

In an exciting season with eight different winners in 10 races, Maloney sat at the top of the table until an unfortunate weekend in Monaco.

Now sitting in third place in the Drivers’ Standings just 11 points behind the frontrunner Paul Aron, Maloney hopes for a comeback.

Maloney told Motorsport Week: “The start of the season was great. I made some mistakes but things improved from my side and the team has given me a great car and I’ve performed well with it.

“I’m just focused on winning more races and doing the best job that I can for the rest of the year. So I kind of forgot about the first few rounds in terms of results and I’m more focused on securing those results now.”

The Sauber Academy Driver made history in Bahrain as the first Barbadian driver to win a race in the feeder series.

His impressive junior career earned him a reserve drive at Andretti’s Formula E team for Season 10.

Maloney finished the 2023 Formula 2 season in 10th after securing a second-place finish in Formula 3 the year before.

“It’s my second year, so I have learnt a lot more about the car,” Maloney said. “I have a different mindset this year and I’m just trying to get the maximum out of the car every single round.

“It’s tough when you go through the race weekend after you finish and you realise you really didn’t do the best job that you could have. It’s never one thing, it’s always a 100 things that cause the good or bad results, so I’m working on that.”

With Formula 1 being his ultimate goal, Maloney has a lot of work to do this season to find a spot at the pinnacle of motorsport.

Having joined the Sauber Academy in February earlier this year as a Reserve Driver role for Sauber Motorsport, he is being noticed by top teams.

Maloney shared: “My dream is Formula 1. There are only 20 seats so it’s difficult to get in, and of course, timing is a big factor.  

“It’s a privilege to be in Formula 2 and to be so close to my dream, I never expected that when I was younger.

“I was always at the racetrack with my dad, my two uncles, and my granddad as they all raced.”

Growing up in a motorsport family can’t have been easy, but for Maloney, it helped to sculpt his ambitions.

The boy from Barbados lived and breathed racing, with his father and uncles competing in races across the island.

Maloney explained: “We are a motorsport family. There aren’t many conversations about things outside of racing in my family. 

“When you want to get to Formula 1, everything needs to be at 100% all the time so if we aren’t focused on racing then we’ve missed something that we could be doing better.”

“My dad’s family were all race car drivers so they understand everything. My dad looks at the strategy, the data, and everything, so he doesn’t really get too nervous. My mum, though, paces up and down every time.”

Utilising the skills he picked up from his family, Maloney has pushed himself to the limit to work towards his ultimate goal.

Maloney’s track record proves he is a talent, but even better – he’s a fast learner.

The Barbadian snagged the F4 British Championship Title in 2019 in his first year of graduating from karting.

Securing a fourth-place finish in FRECA, the young driver moved on to F3 where he finished second in 2022.

Last year, Maloney finished 10th in the F2 standings – this year, he’s picked up two wins and is in contention for the title.

So far his single-seater track record has been strong, and Maloney also had a taste of rallying back in 2022.

“Barbados is quite big on rallying,” he explained. “I’ve done a few rallies in Barbados and it was so cool. It’s so different to circuit racing. I was winning stages but it didn’t go as well as I wanted it to.

“You can’t quite be 100% on every lap because it’s so dangerous. Anything can happen in a rally. I was scared for my life at certain points because it’s so unpredictable and I tried to push as hard as I could.

“The crowd was amazing in Barbados, it was amazing to race at home. But, my dream will always be Formula 1.”

After a disastrous weekend in Monaco costing him the Championship lead, Maloney has a lot to think about ahead of the next round in Barcelona.

He shared: “When it comes to the races, I always need to be confident on what my plan is. So it’s more than just going out. 

“I need to be here with a clear mindset, not think about the standings too much and just try to do the best job possible.”

Looking to regain his lead in the standings, the Rodin Motorsport driver hopes for a smooth weekend in Barcelona from the 21-23rd of June.

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Rodin Motorsport has confirmed Joseph Loake will step up into the FIA Formula 3 Championship with the team in 2024.

Loake, 18, makes the jump into F3 after a rookie campaign in the GB3 series which saw him achieve four wins, eight podiums and three pole positions en route to finishing third in the Drivers’ standings.

The British driver joins the 2023 GB3 Champion Callum Voisin in the recently rebranded Rodin Motorsport lineup and is delighted to be making the next step in his single-seater career.

“I’m so pleased to be moving to the FIA F3 Championship for the upcoming season,” Loake said.

“To have been given the incredible opportunity to race in such a fantastic championship with Rodin Motorsport is something I could have only dreamed of a few months ago, so I cannot wait to get cracking and make the most of it!”

Rodin’s F3 Team Manager Sam Waple added, “Joseph is a driver who has already done great things in his short career.

“He’s adapted well to every car he’s ever driven and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do behind the wheel of the F3 car.

“While it’s going to, no doubt, be a big challenge for him I have confidence that he will work well with the team and put everything into the upcoming year.

“I can’t wait to start working together.”

Ready to enter the world stage in 2024, Loake grabbed headlines last month when he was announced the winner of the highly-coveted Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award.

As a reward, Loake was handed a test outing at Silverstone in an Aston Martin Formula 1 car and revived a cash prize of £200,000.

Loake’s career continues with the start of the 10-round 2024 F3 season in Bahrain on February 29 – March 2.

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The Carling name will disappear from motorsport after the team announced it has completed a full rebrand to race under the guise of Rodin Motorsport from 2024.

The British-based squad, set up in 1996, currently competes across six championships, including both Formula 2 and Formula 3 and the all-female F1 Academy series.

Last year, following investment from Rodin Cars founder David Dicker which saw the company become the majority shareholder, the side was renamed to Rodin Carlin.

The New-Zealand based manufacturer, which failed with a ploy to enter F1 from 2025, will run under an exclusive moniker and launch a new black-and-white livery scheme.

Rodin Motorsport will continue to compete in F2, F3 and F1 Academy, along with the GB3 Championship, F4 British Championship and Spanish F4 Championship this year.

Rodin Motorsport Director David Dicker said, “I am thrilled to lead Rodin Motorsport in this new era of our racing history.

“The team have a tremendous racing pedigree which we will continue to build upon moving forward.

“The 2024 season is once again going to be an exciting year for everyone at Rodin Motorsport and I for one can’t wait to get back on track where we belong.

“Our core values remain the same and we continue to strive to be the leading junior motorsport team.

“Our commitment to the drivers, championships and staff remains unwavering; we are here to race, develop drivers and keep winning.”

Carlin had previously aided the progression of future F1 World Champions Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg, plus upcoming race winners Carlos Sainz and George Russell.

The team also fielded current McLaren ace Lando Norris, who won both the 2015 F4 British Championship and 2017 F3 European Championship in Carlin colours.

Last season Rodin Carlin achieved a solitary victory to place third in the F2 Teams’ Championship, while the Surrey-based camp wound up rock bottom in the F3 standings.

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Rodin Cars has began the testing and development phase of their bespoke, track-only hypercar which is set to rival the likes of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie, Gordon Murray Automotive’s T.50S Niki Lauda and others.

The New Zealand manufacturer has turned its first laps on their FZERO hypercar prototype at their facility near Mount Lyford, on South Island, where they house three purpose-build circuits.

Billionaire, owner and FZERO designer David Dicker took to the wheel of his track-only machine which utilises a 4.0 twin-turbo V10 engine, producing 1013 hp – and a naturally aspirated variant of the ‘RC.TEN’ powertrain is in the works – which will push it to a 360 km/h (223 mph) top speed.

After their bid for an F1 team was rejected earlier in the year, Rodin has focused their project to enter the niche market of track-only hypercars – having unveiled the FZERO last year – with a prototype incorporating race car design properties like a single-seat and closed-cockpit combination.

Dicker said: “While there’s a long road ahead of testing and development, running the FZERO for the first time gives me immense pride in what everyone at Rodin Cars has achieved in bringing this programme to life.

“The test went very well and we were able to work through our programme.

“We’re excited as the FZERO project enters its next phase.

“It really is a car like no other.”

Emma Duncan, Rodin Cars General Manager, added: “Seeing the FZERO effortlessly take to the track was an inspirational moment.

“The car represents engineering excellence and is truly a masterpiece.

“This is a pivotal development for the future of Rodin Cars.”

The FZERO took on its debut track outing after a several installation laps, and Rodin continue its initiated track testing and development phase of the prototype.

Two prototype engines were initially built in the UK by Neil Brown Engineering, before the RC.TEN development process moved in-house at Rodin Cars.

Furthermore, they intend to offer the RC.TEN as a crate motor for motorsport applications.

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Following speculative talks over the purchase of the AlphaTauri Formula 1 team, Rodin Cars founder David Dicker has said that the $1bn price tag placed on the team is “commercially unviable”.

Rodin was one of three teams whose application to join the F1 grid was rejected by the FIA. Of the four applicants considered in Phase 2 of the process, Andretti Formula Racing was the ‘only candidate to meet the stringent criteria that were set by the FIA in all material respects’.

Andretti will now enter commercial discussions with Formula One Management (FOM).

With the arrival of an 11th F1 team facing criticism from incumbent competitors, prospective entrants have been encouraged to invest in existing outfits.

Australian billionaire Dicker has been investigating the options over purchasing an existing team, but his latest talks with AlphaTauri seem to have stalled.

“Well, I do have some talks about buying AlphaTauri, but the price is commercially unviable as far as I could understand it,”  the Rodin Cars founder told RACER.

“You’ve still got to look at these things in commercial terms. And the F1 guys are experts on the motorsport side, but on the business side, I’m not so sure.

“I’ve had a few people talk about this and that, but nothing tremendously concrete. I do have a couple of things that I might get a bit more info in the next week or two about some possibilities there. But the value proposition is weak.

“I do have a project that I’m working on. It’s interesting and exciting, but I can’t talk about it quite yet, because I haven’t quite got it. But let me put it this way: I’m pretty pissed off about not getting into Formula 1, so I’m not just going to go away and sulk.

“That’s just the way that the way I am. I mean, you want to do things, and that’s what life’s about. You just try to do them. And if you can’t do it one way, then look for another way, or other ways, of doing things.”

Last week, it was revealed that Rodin Cars had had ‘the opportunity of discussions for a Ferrari collaboration’.

Had the car manufacturer been successful in its application, the team was committed to reserving one seat for a female driver – most likely three-time W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick who has been in a long-term partnership with the company since 2020.

Dicker, who purchased a majority stake in Carlin at the start of the year, claimed to be in the running when Williams went up for sale in 2020. The Australian also stated that he has discussed the possibility of a sale with Sauber and Haas in the past.

“I would [buy a team] if I thought there was a viable route, but paying $800-900million for [AlphaTauri] would probably not be considered commercially viable. But you know, just got to see if there’s possibilities.

“I made a mistake when Williams was for sale, because I could have bought that pretty easily. And I didn’t read the strategic landscape correctly on that with the way we made the bid, which in hindsight, was obviously a mistake. But there it goes.

“I had a lot of talks with Williams about buying Williams – saw all the numbers and sat through presentations and made them an offer and everything – and I’ve had a few guys talking about other teams from time to time.

“Mostly Sauber and Haas, which have more or less been on and off the market for years, and could have probably been bought for much lower numbers that made a lot more sense. And like I said, I probably screwed that up.”

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New Zealand manufacturer Rodin has revealed that its rejected bid to join the Formula 1 grid had promised to field a female driver.

Rodin was one of three entries that had been reported to have failed to make it through to the FIA’s final selection round.

It is understood that Andretti Global are the only applicant still in the running and could join the 2025 F1 grid provided the bid receives the green light from both the FIA and FOM.

While Rodin never formally announced plans to join the F1 grid, a statement has now been issued by the company stating that the application “justified its merit”.

“We wish to emphasise that our objective here is not to criticise the FIA or seek a reconsideration of its decision,” the statement read.

“We fully respect and accept the outcome. Our sole purpose is to release information we consider in the public interest to inform the Formula 1 community.” 

Officially established in 2016, the track-car manufacturer is based on New Zealand’s South Island. The company’s complex at Wandle Downs near Mt. Lyford includes three separate test tracks, engine and composite facilities nestled away in the valleys of the Southern Alps.

While Rodin’s business focuses primarily on the production of track-specific race cars for private ownership, the company invested heavily in the highly respected Carlin junior racing team earlier this year.

Emphasising its commitment to motorsports, a successful bid from Rodin hoped to bring production of F1 cars to New Zealand. The company had also revealed that it had the ‘opportunity of discussions for a Ferrari collaboration’ – although it is not known how far any negotiations went.

The group also disclosed that Rodin had committed to bring a female F1 driver to the grid with three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick the clear favourite.

Chadwick entered a long-term partnership with Rodin Cars in 2020 and has played a role in the development of the manufacturer’s FZERO and FZED projects.

“We committed to reserving one seat for a female driver. We have tested Liam Lawson, Jamie Chadwick and Louis Sharp at our facility in New Zealand, in both an F3 car and our own car, the Rodin FZed, which is a car somewhat quicker than a GP2/F2 car,” Rodin confirmed.

“Jamie performed exceptionally well, and if she was available, we would have no hesitation in putting her in a seat.” 

Rodin had also hoped that its existing relationship with Carlin would tempt the FIA and FOM into accepting a proposal as it would produce a clear pathway for driver development: “While Andretti has a long history of successful participation in U.S. racing, our program offers a direct ladder to an F1 drive by competing in UK and European championships.” 

The team believed that it would be able to fully fund an entry using the personal wealth of founder David Dicker. Dicker is the founder, chief executive and chairman of Australian tech giant Dicker Data. Dicker himself is believed to be worth more than $1 billion.

“We appreciate the opportunity to have participated in the FIA process and extend our best wishes to Andretti for their successful bid,” the statement continued.

“Rodin Cars remains committed to pushing the boundaries of motorsport and will continue to pursue excellence in the world of racing.”

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