Ryan Sharp
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Ryan Sharp (born 29 April 1979 in
Newtonhill Newtonhill is a commuter town in Kincardineshire, Scotland. It is popular due to its location, just six miles south of Aberdeen with easy reach of Stonehaven and with views over the North Sea. History The town was originally called Skateraw. Sk ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
) is a
race car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...
driver and team manager. He raced in the
FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
in 2007 with
JetAlliance Racing Jetalliance Racing is an Austrian racing team which currently competes in the FIA GT Championship. Founded by Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer, former CEO of Jetalliance airlines, in 2006 under the name Race Alliance Motorsport, the team has run two private ...
in their lead No. 33
Aston Martin DBR9 The Aston Martin DBR9 is a racing car built by Aston Martin Racing, debuting in 2005 and racing actively in international sportscar racing until the end of GT1 category in 2011. The name DBR9 is derived from the original 24 Hours of Le Mans-winn ...
– with ex-F1 Driver
Karl Wendlinger Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver. Mercedes Juniors Born in Kufstein, Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 Cham ...
as his teammate. Ryan was also the 2003
German Formula Renault The Formula Renault Northern European Cup (formerly Formula Renault 2.0 NEC) was a Formula Renault 2.0 championship originally held in Northern Europe (Germany, Netherlands and Belgium), but has expanded over the years to the whole of Europe. The ...
champion. He is currently the director of
Hitech Racing Hitech Grand Prix (formerly known as Hitech Racing) is a British motor racing team. It was founded in 2002 by Dennis Rushen and David Hayle. The team started racing in the British Formula 3 Championship in 2003. The team also competed in the So ...
.


Career history

Ryan's career began in
Karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...
. After winning a number of local and national Karting events his talent was spotted by Dutch businessman Klass Zwart. Zwart funded Ryan's first season of car racing in Junior
Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...
. Ryan progressed well despite limited funding to compete, and in 2002 moved from
Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...
to the
Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...
Championship, a 'slicks and wings' series, as compared to Formula Ford which does not allow aerodynamic wings.


Formula Renault

Ryan's first season in
Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...
was in the UK, with the John Village Automotive team. He finished 6th in the championship. Ironically, his consistency in finishing every race in the points dropped him to 6th due to the Formula Renault system of dropping your lowest score through the season – meaning Ryan had to drop points while those around him dropped a '0' they had scored during the season. For 2003, Ryan moved out of the United Kingdom to race in Formula Renault in Germany with the
Jenzer Motorsport Jenzer Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Switzerland. Founded in 1993 by Andreas Jenzer the team is currently competing in FIA Formula 3, Italian F4 and F4 Spanish and has had a number of drivers who would turn out to be successful in ...
team. The move paid off handsomely, and with a lot of work and input by Jenzer Motorsport, Ryan won the championship by 40 points, and performed well in the Formula Renault Masters event at Donington in October 2003 by winning the first of the 2 races, and finishing third in the second. He was leading the second race, but a backmarker caused a red flag and on countback Ryan was classified third. Accomplished British racer Lewis Hamilton came over to Germany during the season to race with the German Formula Renault grid. Ryan won both of the races and Hamilton finished 9th and 8th respectively. Ryan also took part in a round of the Italian Formula Renault championship at Spa, in Belgium. Running in another competitive field (considered by some to be the most competitive Renault championship in the world) at a circuit new to him in the pouring rain, Ryan went on to win race 1 by 12 seconds and was on course to win the second until he made an error and damaged his car, failing to finish that race but performing well under the wet weather conditions.


Formula Renault v6

2004 saw Ryan continue his relationship with the highly rated Jenzer Motorsport team, but moving up to the
Formula Renault V6 Eurocup Formula Renault V6 Eurocup is a former type of formula racing, active from 2003 to 2004, started by Renault as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends ( ETCC and FIA GT Championship). It was a Formula Renault 3.5 that include also ...
. The season started quite well, when he finished third and first at the first weekend (3rd in Race 1 after spinning at Turn 1 and dropping right to the back of the field), and then achieving two-second places at the following races in Valencia. In the course of one of the two races Ryan appeared to have an invincible lead of four seconds in the race with one lap to go. However, the 4-second lead was lost in the last lap allowing Rayn to finish second. Losing places during the last section of the races was common for Ryan during this season and it was thought to be related to a general lack of fitness and mounting driver nerves towards the end of the race. Ryan had a lot to focus on and learn and an amount of inexperience at this level meant his tyres were being worked too hard and he lost pace at the end of both races. As a result, he was passed by Damien Pasini and Robbie Kerr who won these races. Nevertheless, these first 4 rounds left him with a commanding lead at the head of the championship. The season moved to Magny Cours where Ryan consolidated his championship lead. At the F1 support race at Monaco a car failure caused him a loss of valuable points in the championship. A disappointing performance due to a loss in the family at Brno followed reducing Ryan's lead as a contender. Eventually Ryan lost the championship to Swiss/French driver Giorgio Mondini by 22 points.


GP2 Series

Ryan moved up to the new
GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...
in 2005 with
David Price Racing David Price Racing (commonly referred to as DPR) is a British motor racing team, founded by David Price. The team competed in various forms of motorsport from their foundation in 1976 until 2008. The team was sold in April 2009, but continued ...
, a team he had raced against in 2004 and who were very impressed with his performance. The season began in Imola where the cars had teething trouble with clutches. In the 2nd round at Barcelona, Ryan was on course for a 3rd-place finish when his car failed forcing him to start at the back of the grid for the second race. In this race he set the fastest lap and gained 1 point. A series of disappointing performances followed which could be attributed to the team being poorly engineered and set up. With his hopes diminished, he returned to the team he knew and trusted. Leaving the GP2 series, he returned to Jenzer Motorsport to compete in the last few rounds of the Formula Renault 3.5l championship, and almost immediately his performances improved. This demonstrated that the
David Price Racing David Price Racing (commonly referred to as DPR) is a British motor racing team, founded by David Price. The team competed in various forms of motorsport from their foundation in 1976 until 2008. The team was sold in April 2009, but continued ...
car used in the GP2 series was not a competitive car, and that Jenzer Motorsprt was a top team. Ryan was replaced at DPR by 2004 FRenault v6 Champion Giorgio Mondini, who also struggled to get anything out of the car.


World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)

Ryan's career took a new direction in 2006 – signing for the Italian JAS Motorsport team to contest the World Touring Car Championship, running as an Independent in the Yokohama Independent Trophy. He impressed many people in this season, becoming the first Independent driver to score an ''overall'' podium position in the season, finishing 3rd overall in Race 1 at Puebla, Mexico. Ryan won a number of races during the season (class victories), the most memorable being one of the races at Brands Hatch, UK – where he won in the pouring rain, underlining his wet weather driving skills. He was on course to finish 2nd in the championship behind Dutchman Tom Coronel, but had to miss the last 3 rounds of the Championship due to budget issues (the last round had double points, so it was effectively 4 rounds/a maximum of 80 points missed out on). At the end of the year he won the
European Touring Car Cup The FIA European Touring Car Cup was an annual touring car racing event, which had been held at various locations across Europe from 2005 to 2017. Unlike in previous years where it was a one-off event, in 2010 the series was a three round event. ...
in a SEAT Leon for GR Asia.


FIA GT Championship

Ryan moved again in 2007, to the FIA GT Championship with Austrian team JetAlliance Racing, who were only in their 2nd season of competition. The season began in Zhuhai in China, where the car finished 9th – this was followed by two 4th-place finishes at Silverstone and Bucharest. The improvement in form continued to the next race in Monza where the duo won a dramatic race. Oschersleben held no such luck as the car was hit at the start of the race, dropping him to the back, where he eventually retired. The last race they took part in was the Total 24 Hours of Spa, in which his car qualified 2nd on the grid and ran very well. He was leading at the 6-hour mark, and so was awarded half points for a race win which amounted to 5 points. However, the car retired around 40 minutes after this and the duo lost more points in the championship race. A strong finish to the season, including 2 further wins in Adria, in the night race, and by teammate Zolder in the 10th and final round. This resulted in Ryan and teammate Wendlinger shoot up the standings to finish 2nd in the championship, 4 points behind eventual champion, Tomas Biagi.


Later career

After finishing car racing, Ryan returned to local kart racing in Britain, winning several Scottish and British championships during this time. He retired fully at the end of 2017 to focus on his 7-year-old son Aston, who has started karting professionally.


Racing record


Complete GP2 series results

(
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)


Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.


Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)


See also

*
2007 FIA GT Championship season The 2007 FIA GT Championship was the 11th season of FIA GT Championship auto racing. It was a series for Grand Touring style cars competing in two classes, GT1 and GT2, the latter being less powerful and more closely related to road-going models.GT ...
*
JetAlliance Racing Jetalliance Racing is an Austrian racing team which currently competes in the FIA GT Championship. Founded by Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer, former CEO of Jetalliance airlines, in 2006 under the name Race Alliance Motorsport, the team has run two private ...
*
Karl Wendlinger Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver. Mercedes Juniors Born in Kufstein, Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 Cham ...


References


External links

*
Ryan Sharp's FIA GT Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Ryan 1979 births Living people Scottish racing drivers Formula Ford drivers German Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault V6 Eurocup drivers GP2 Series drivers FIA GT Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers European Touring Car Cup drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers David Price Racing drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers