GB3 race-winner Joseph Loake has been named as the 34th winner of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, during Sunday evening’s (3 December) Autosport Awards in London.
With many of the world’s leading motorsport figures watching on at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Loake became the latest recipient of one of racing’s most prestigious prizes, following in the footsteps of David Coulthard, Jenson Button, George Russell and Lando Norris as a winner of the award.
The 18-year-old wins a full test with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 team, £200,000, full membership of the BRDC, an Arai helmet and a Jordan Bespoke personalised helmet bag.
Loake took the GB3 championship scrap all the way to the final day of the season, having won four races for JHR Developments across the season, and claiming four additional podium finishes. Fellow Award finalist Callum Voisin ultimately secured the title in the final race at Donington Park.
Loake’s GB3 campaign ended just days ahead of the award assessments at Silverstone, where he drove MSV F2, United Autosports Ligier LMP3 and Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin GT3 machinery, as well as undergoing simulator and fitness tests.
A panel of judges oversaw the assessments, with BRDC Vice-President Derek Warwick acting as the head of the panel, which also included F1 race winner Johnny Herbert, previous Award winners Dario Franchitti, Darren Turner, Andrew Kirkaldy and Alexander Sims, successful Lola and McLaren designer Mark Williams, Le Mans-winning engineer Leena Gade, leading commentator Ian Titchmarsh and Autosport Chief Editor Kevin Turner.
Loake said : “I’m speechless, I honestly can’t believe it, it’s the best thing I’ve ever received in my life, thank you to every single person that has ever been alongside me to get me where I am, I can’t believe it.
“I can’t put it into words, the whole way through the event, not only that, the fitness tests, the simulator tests, it was so rugged, really really tricky and I’m speechless, but thank you to all the judges, everybody at Autosport, thank you for this opportunity.
“I’m sure my family will be partying more than me, but it’s been an incredible season for me, I didn’t expect to have such a good year, and I’m looking forward to next year, hopefully it’ll be a step towards Formula 3. I don’t know what I will be doing next year as of yet, but it should be a nice step up.”
Remarkably, the British driver is the eighth driver from the GB3 Championship and its BRDC F4/BRDC British F3 predecessors to win the award from the last nine times it has been presented.
Recent winners of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award:
2014 – George Russell (BRDC F4)
2015 – Will Palmer (BRDC F4)
2016 – Lando Norris (BRDC British F3)
2018 – Tom Gamble (BRDC British F3)
2019 – Johnathan Hoggard (BRDC British F3)
2021 – Zak O'Sullivan GB3)
2022 – Luke Browning (GB3)
2023 – Joseph Loake (GB3)
Image: LAT