Teenage motorsport sensation Charlie Hart (Year 12) makes an exciting step up to the GT4 European Series for 2025, after clinching two victories and six podiums on his sportscar racing debut during the competitive GT4 Winter Series.
The 16-year-old from Rivington kicked on from early karting career successes by impressing further in Ginetta Juniors over the past two years and, after earning numerous victories in a strong campaign last year, made the much-anticipated jump up to GT racing this winter as he looks towards competing in the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours in the future.
Bolton School student Charlie teamed up with the RAFA Racing by Race Lab team and fellow racer Callum Davies for the five-round GT4 Winter Series, racing a McLaren Artura across some of Europe's most famous race tracks. With an impressive display of race craft, determination and outright pace, Charlie firmly established himself as a rising talent in the GT ranks.
His GT4 debut began with a spectacular maiden podium at Estoril in Portugal in mixed conditions to kick off the Winter Series, but it would be the second event at Portimao where Charlie showed his talents. Scoring pole position was just the start in a mightily successful second event. He bagged yet another podium finish in his own race, before combining with Davies later in the weekend to brilliantly take a first GT4 race win by 8.5s in damp conditions.
Another fine pole position and podium finish followed in Round 3 at Valencia, while he showed his competitive side at the fourth event in Aragon - taking yet another trophy with third place after coming out on top in a three-wide elbows-out scrap for the podium positions in his #812 McLaren.
Charlie rounded out his Winter Series audition in fabulous style at the Barcelona finale, claiming his third pole position in five attempts and adding victory number two of the campaign following a thrilling race-long battle with a fellow McLaren rival. With three pole positions, two wins and six podiums to his name, it ended a mightily encouraging start to his GT racing venture.
The Lancashire lad and his McLaren squad now move up to face the world's best in the ultra-competitive GT4 European Series Powered by RAFA Racing, which features six double-header events at historic circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps, Barcelona and Zandvoort in front of packed crowds.
Charlie said: 'It's been such a great start to my first season in proper GT cars! We got a great opportunity with the RAFA Racing team to go racing in their McLaren for the Winter Series; we took it with both hands and never looked back really.
'The car was going to be a new challenge for me, but I really enjoyed the feeling of it and we've got quicker and quicker as the races have gone on. To end the season in the top three with pole positions, plenty of silverware and a couple of race wins is really encouraging for us going forward.
'I'm now incredibly excited about what's to come in 2025. We're going up to take on the world's best in GT4 Europe, and I feel that we're in a great position with the team I'm a part of. We'll be realistic with our expectations but know we've come off the back of a great winter, so we'll definitely be going for it, that's for sure!'
Charlie's new season kicks off at Circuit Paul Ricard in France across 11-13 April. All races can be streamed live at GT World on YouTube.
The images included are from GTWS/Nexus.
