Joseph Loake

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Joseph Loake
Joseph Loake racing in the 2023 GB3 Championship at Silverstone
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (2005-04-17) 17 April 2005 (age 19)
Macclesfield, Cheshire, United Kingdom
FIA Formula 3 Championship career
Debut season2024
Current teamRodin Motorsport
Car number31
Starts4 (4 entries)
Wins0
Podiums0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finishTBD in 2024
Previous series
2023
2022
20212022
2019–2020
GB3 Championship
Formula 4 UAE Championship
F4 British Championship
BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship
Championship titles
2020BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship
Awards
2023Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award

Joseph Loake (born 17 April 2005) is a British racing driver who is competing in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship for Rodin Motorsport.[1] He is the 2020 BRSCC Fiesta Junior Champion, and a race winner in both the British F4 and GB3 championships. He is also the latest winner of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award.[2][3]

Career[edit]

Karting[edit]

Loake began karting in 2016 at the Macclesfield Kart Club, and spent most of his karting career in the NatSKA championship; joining Class 11 in 2016 following the championship win of his debut year (2015). In 2017, he moved up to Class 12 and came 4th in the championship, winning multiple races against often older and more practiced opponents. Of his early career, his most notable karting achievement was coming second in the NatSKA Class 15 Junior Rotax Championship.[4][5][6]

BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship[edit]

2019[edit]

Unlike other young drivers who started out in Formula 4 or Formula Ford, Loake made his car racing debut in 2019 in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship, a support series for the TCR UK Touring Car Championship. The series was designed as an opportunity to launch drivers (typically aged 14–17) into their careers within circuit racing.[7] Despite missing the opening round of the championship, Loake came second in the championship, and took a double win at Anglesey.[6][8]

2020[edit]

In 2020, Loake returned to BRSCC Fiesta's Junior Series, where he put in an impressive performance, winning eight of eight races, taking the championship title at Croft, the young racer won a staggering 50 points ahead of his nearest rival.[6][8][9] At the end of the season, Loake was nominated for the Teen Racer of the Year and came 4th overall.

Formula 4[edit]

2021[edit]

Loake's first taste of Formula 4 machinery was in late November 2020 at Snetterton Circuit. He made his debut with single-seaters in the 2021 F4 British Championship for JHR Developments, partnering Abbi Pulling, McKenzy Cresswell and Matthew Rees.[8]

On his debut weekend at Thruxton Circuit, he scored no points between his first two races. Despite the rocky start, Loake drover better and he won in the rain, finishing nearly one second ahead of his teammate, McKenzy Cresswell.[10] The second and third rounds were uneventful, as he scored inconsistent points but managed to get two fastest laps in the third race weekend at Brands Hatch. The fourth round at Oulton Park proved to be another weekend to remember for Loake, as he scored two podiums in the race weekend, taking third place in the first race and a dominant win in the final race.[11]

After quiet a few rounds, he won the chaotic final race at Silverstone Circuit, as only 11 out of 17 cars finished the race. Loake capitalised on the misfortune of other drivers and took his third race win in the series.[12] For the final two rounds, he retired from most of them, and only had two points finishes, a fourth place in the first race at Donington Park and a final podium in the first race at Brands Hatch. He finished the season in sixth place, with 199 points.[9]

2022[edit]

During the start of 2022, Loake drove for JHR Developments in the Formula 4 UAE Championship in order to gain extra mileage of the new Tatuus F4-T421.[9][13] He entered 8 races and scored no points, finishing the championship in 27th place.

Loake was retained for the 2022 F4 British Championship at JHR Developments, with new teammates, Georgi Dimitrov and Noah Lisle.[13] Hoping to turn over the unfortunate results of the start of the year, the young driver got to work on his pursuit of the title. Scoring two podiums in the first two rounds, and consistently scoring points throughout the season he was off to a strong start. Balanced with a podium-less third and forth round at Thruxton Circuit and Oulton Park, little points and two retirements seemed to dampen his chances at the title. Loake's luck however turned to improve improve at the familiar Croft Circuit, where he attained podium finish in the second race.

Knockhill Circuit was a notable round of his season, as in the first race he beat pole sitter and McLaren Junior Driver, Ugo Ugochukwu.[14] Loake scored no points in the second race, but bounced back with a podium in the final race. In the next round at Snetterton Circuit, Loake claimed another win in the reversed grid format at the second race of the round.[15]

The next two rounds at Thruxton Circuit and Silverstone Circuit were uneventful, as he scored consistent points and a fastest lap and podium in Silverstone, but the final round of Brands Hatch was the highlight of his season, getting his first two poles of the season, getting a double pole and converting them into wins, as he also got double fastest laps in his winning races.[16] Following the strong final round of the season he finished fifth in the championship.[17]

GB3 Championship[edit]

For the 2023 season, Loake was promoted to the GB3 Championship following his decision to stick with JHR Developments. Loake was paired with David Morales and his former teammate, Matthew Rees.[6][17] He kicked off his debut round at Oulton Park with a hat-trick in the first round, followed by another pole in the next round, which was converted to a podium finish.

His performance continued at Silverstone Circuit where he won two bouts, and again at Spa-Francorchamps where he scored another podium. The momentum continued for the next two rounds, leading to his benchmark performance at Brands Hatch, where he scored his second hat-trick of the season, grabbing another podium the next race.

Loake achieved his final podium of the season in Circuit Zandvoort. At the final round of the season in Donington Park, Loake was tipped for the title alongside Callum Voisin and Alex Dunne.

While Loake finished the first two races with points to his name, he was forced to retire the third, religating his contention for the title; the win eventually going to his competitor Voisin. Loake ended his maiden season in 3rd place with 417 points.[18]

In December Loake was named as the winner of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award and is set to receive a test drive with the Aston Martin F1 team.[19]

FIA Formula 3 Championship[edit]

In 2024, Loake was promoted to FIA Formula 3 with Rodin Motorsport.[20]

Racing record[edit]

Racing career summary[edit]

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2019 BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship ? ? ? ? ? 446

2nd

2020 BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship 8 8 4 4 8 412 1st
2021 F4 British Championship JHR Developments 30 3 0 3 5 199 6th
2022 Formula 4 UAE Championship JHR Developments 8 0 0 0 0 0 27th
F4 British Championship 30 4 2 4 9 271 5th
2023 GB3 Championship JHR Developments 23 4 3 3 8 417 3rd
2024 FIA Formula 3 Championship Rodin Motorsport 4 0 0 0 0 0* 21st*

* Season still in progress.

Complete F4 British Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Points
2021 JHR Developments THR1
1

15
THR1
2

10
THR1
3

1
SNE
1

7
SNE
2

Ret
SNE
3

9
BHI
1

141
BHI
2

Ret
BHI
3

7
OUL
1

3
OUL
2

134
OUL
3

1
KNO
1

5
KNO
2

63
KNO
3

Ret
THR2
1

Ret
THR2
2

9
THR2
3

6
CRO
1

5
CRO
2

101
CRO
3

7
SIL
1

Ret
SIL
2

47
SIL
3

1
DON
1

4
DON
2

Ret
DON
3

13
BHGP
1

2
BHGP
2

Ret
BHGP
3

Ret
6th 199
2022 JHR Developments DON
1

5
DON
2

3
DON
3

9
BHI
1

2
BHI
2

51
BHI
3

10
THR1
1

4
THR1
2

8
THR1
3

Ret
OUL
1

7
OUL
2

Ret
OUL
3

9
CRO
1

8
CRO
2

22
CRO
3

Ret
KNO
1

1
KNO
2

10
KNO
3

3
SNE
1

5
SNE
2

12
SNE
3

8
THR2
1

6
THR2
2

41
THR2
3

4
SIL
1

Ret
SIL
2

52
SIL
3

2
BHGP
1

1
BHGP
2

73
BHGP
3

1
5th 271

Complete GB3 Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points
2023 JHR Developments OUL
1

1
OUL
2

3
OUL
3

1312
SIL1
1

1
SIL1
2

1
SIL1
3

20
SPA
1

9
SPA
2

10
SPA
3

210
SNE
1

6
SNE
2

22
SNE
3

108
SIL2
1

6
SIL2
2

4
SIL2
3

C
BRH
1

1
BRH
2

2
BRH
3

159
ZAN
1

3
ZAN
2

5
ZAN
3

138
DON
1

10
DON
2

8
DON
3

Ret
3rd 417

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2024 Rodin Motorsport BHR
SPR

27
BHR
FEA

23
MEL
SPR

14
MEL
FEA

Ret
IMO
SPR

IMO
FEA

MON
SPR

MON
FEA

CAT
SPR

CAT
FEA

RBR
SPR

RBR
FEA

SIL
SPR

SIL
FEA

HUN
SPR

HUN
FEA

SPA
SPR

SPA
FEA

MNZ
SPR

MNZ
FEA

21st* 0*

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Joseph Loake joins Rodin Motorsport's FIAF3 team". www.rodinmotorsport.com. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  2. ^ Turner, Kevin (4 December 2023). "Joseph Loake wins Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  3. ^ Askam, Richard (23 February 2024). "Joseph Loake: Young racing driver hopes to emulate Button and Coulthard". BBC. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Joseph Loake Racing". josephloake.com.
  5. ^ "Life-changing opportunity for Macclesfield teenage race car driver". Macclesfield Nub News. January 4, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d "Joseph Loake". www.gb-3.net. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  7. ^ "BRSCC | BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship".
  8. ^ a b c Wood, Ida (March 4, 2021). "Fiesta Junior champion Joseph Loake joins F4 with JHR Developments".
  9. ^ a b c McNamara, Rebecca (2022-03-30). "Championship glory the aim for JHR Developments returnee Joseph Loake". F4 Championship. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
  10. ^ Waring, Bethonie (May 9, 2021). "Joseph Loake wins wet finale to British F4's Thruxton curtain-raiser".
  11. ^ Waring, Bethonie (August 1, 2021). "Loake dominates Oulton Park race three for second British F4 win".
  12. ^ Waring, Bethonie (September 26, 2021). "Loake wins British F4 race of attrition at Silverstone".
  13. ^ a b Wood, Ida (March 30, 2022). "JHR Developments retains Joseph Loake for British F4 title attack".
  14. ^ Waring, Bethonie (July 30, 2022). "JHR's Joseph Loake leaps to British F4 victory at Knockhill".
  15. ^ Waring, Bethonie (August 13, 2022). "Joseph Loake wins reversed grid British F4 race at Snetterton".
  16. ^ Waring, Bethonie (October 9, 2022). "Loake wins British F4 finale, Ugochukwu claims rookie title".
  17. ^ a b Whitfield, Steve (February 9, 2023). "F4 winner Loake stays with JHR Developments for step up to GB3".
  18. ^ "Voisin crowned 2023 GB3 champion: How the season finale unfolded on the ground". 31 October 2023.
  19. ^ "Joseph Loake wins Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year". 3 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Rodin Motorsport sign rookie Joseph Loake ahead of 2024 season". FIA_Formula 3® - The Official F3® Website. 11 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.

External links[edit]