Louis Sharp confirmed as Paddon’s teammate for Race of Champions

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.

“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.”

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, 11-time X Games Gold Medalist and action sports legend Travis Pastrana.

Sharp raised in Christchurch New Zealand, started his career in karts and moved 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 Forrest Rally Sprint – which they won.

“It’s a hugely proud moment for both Louis and myself to represent NZ for the first time at Race Of Champions,” said Paddon.

“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 F1 if he continues doing what he is doing.”

The Race Of Champions comes two weeks after the 2025 Supercars opener at Sydney Motorsport Park (Feb 21-23) and one week before the opening round of the F1 World Championship in Melbourne (March 13-16), creating a massive month of motorsport in Australia.

In Sydney, Sharp will be going head to head with no less than:

• 4-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel
• F1 ace, Valtteri Bottas
• 9-time FIA World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb
• 7-time Supercars Champion, Jamie Whincup
• Reigning Supercars champion, Will Brown
• Extreme E champion, Molly Taylor
• 11-time X-Games Gold medalist, Travis Pastrana
• 7-time FIA World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson
• Former F1 driver, FIA F2 champion and current WEC driver, Mick Schumacher
• 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
• 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.