Charlie Shines With 21-Car Climb In GT4 European Series Debut
Charlie Hart kicked off his maiden season in the GT4 European Series last weekend (12/13 April) at Circuit Paul Ricard, France, showing sensational speed but being denied a shot at silverware by bad luck.
The 16-year-old from Rivington entered his first season in GT racing off the back of a wonderful display during the GT Winter Series, taking two victories in the five events held across Europe. Charlie shared a McLaren Artura GT4 car with fellow young charger Callum Davies, and the pair were promoted to the hugely competitive SRO-run GT4 European Series with their RAFA Racing by Race Lab team for an exciting new challenge for 2025.
The first of six events held across Europe came at the historic Circuit Paul Ricard, home to the Formula 1 French Grand Prix over the years. Hart's McLaren formed part of a monster 42-car grid, ahead of two 60-minute races requiring a driver change along the way in both.
The Lancashire lad and his McLaren squad came out of the blocks in thunderous form, sitting right up the leaderboard during testing. In the weekend's Pre-Qualifying session, Charlie showed exactly what he was made of by setting the second-fastest time in his group, leaving the rookie inside the top four heading into Qualifying.
Luck was sadly not on his side in Qualifying as his only lap was controversially deleted by officials regarding track limits violations, meaning the #812 car would start from the final row - leaving Hart hungry to recover on Sunday. Davies started the car for the first race, but would be forced to retire the McLaren before Charlie could jump aboard.
What followed was a vintage display from Charlie in race two. A slightly damp track greeted drivers for what turned out to be 60 manic minutes, and the Rivington racer began carving his way through the pack from 42nd place to 29th after a stunning opening lap - dodging two incidents in doing so to gain 13 places.
The rise continued after a brief delay to clean up damaged rivals, Charlie swiftly climbing to 26th on another chaotic restart before he avoided a multi-car incident in the final sector to then move up to P21 before pit stops began - a net gain of 21 spots from his starting position. This soon became P13 on the road before handing the #812 Artura over to Davies, who came close to breaking into the top 20 - ultimately finishing 28th overall and 20th in their Silver class.
While Qualifying misfortune put him on the back foot, his frontrunning speed showed on the timesheets to give Charlie plenty of optimism that he can compete at the highest level during the remainder of the GT4 Europe campaign.
Charlie said: "Overall it was a mixed start to the season. It's a real shame that we weren't able to fight for the trophies near the sharp end just because of what happened in Qualifying, as we were in the top four earlier in the weekend on sheer speed.
"That's the main thing we've got to take from France. The car is good and the guys at RAFA Racing have given us an amazing chance to do something mega this year. We've got the speed and now with races under our belt we know a bit more about what we're dealing with out there.
"I'm already ready for Zandvoort now. It's another new track for me but hopefully we'll pick up pretty quickly and get ourselves right up the grid to fight for a proper result. Thank you to everybody supporting us. We'll be pushing, that's for sure!"
He is next in action at Zandvoort in the Netherlands between 16-18 May, and both races can be streamed live at GT World on YouTube. Re-live race two from France below.
