How student driver Luke Sawyer seized his Croft opportunity in the SMo Competition with WFC Racing
Words by: Andy Lloyd - Head of Media - Student Motorsport Competition
Images by: Andy Lloyd, Isabel Clark - Assistant Head of Media - Student Motorsport Competition
If somebody had said to a 15-year-old Luke Sawyer that in three years’ time he would be competing as a driver in the Student Motorsport Competition and lining up alongside BRSCC CityCar Cup champions, he probably wouldn’t have believed you. Yet, in April 2026, Luke made his car racing debut at Brands Hatch with Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group (NSCG), claiming two impressive top ten class finishes at the iconic Kent circuit.
His next outing brought a swift taste of the inevitable setbacks that motorsport can offer with a DNF and a DNS at Snetterton. Following the trip to Norfolk, NSCG opted to temporarily step back from competition to restructure its programme ahead of a planned return later in the year.
Above: Luke Sawyer at the wheel of the #34 NSCG Toyota Aygo - Brands Hatch - April 2026 (Photo: Andy Lloyd)
Keen to build on his early-season momentum, Luke remained proactive in the paddock. When Waltham Forest College Racing (WFC) needed a deputising driver for the #96 Citroën – with regular pilot Harry Sutton unavailable due to personal commitments – Luke seized the opportunity.
Supported by two years of Motorsport Engineering studies and prior success in both karting and simulator environments – where he had previously won a competition to visit Mercedes AMG F1 – Luke adapted rapidly to his new team. In sweltering North Yorkshire temperatures, he qualified the #96 WFC entry sixth in class and 12th overall, finishing less than a tenth of a second behind title contender Andrew Dyer in the BCR1 Toyota.
The Croft weekend offered the advantage of the season’s first triple-header, where the whole CityCar Cup grid competed across three 15-minute contests, maximising track time and giving the less experienced drivers a real opportunity to get some miles under their belts, which WFC optimised by taking part in Friday’s test sessions.
Igniting the Spark: Movie Magic and Family Roots
For Luke, the initial passion for racing was seeded at home before turning into a concrete career ambition.
“I suppose, for me, the initial spark was lit by the movie “Cars” but my family has always been die-hard F1 fans so I’ve always grown up with motorsport in the background.
“Then, when I was at high school, I needed to make decisions about a career direction and it was at that point when my mum, dad and I got to looking around and taking the idea of working in motorsport more seriously. The advice that I got was ‘if you’re going to focus on motorsport, go for it.”
Bridging Engineering Studies with Driver Feedback
Enrolling in the two-year Motorsport Engineering programme at Stafford College provided Luke with a vital technical foundation. Understanding the mechanics beneath the bodywork transformed how he approaches setup discussions with his team.
“It’s not only helped open my eyes as to what the driver needs but also how to communicate back to the driver. As a driver, it’s given me a better level of communication with my team and helped with networking. If I’m talking with contacts in the paddock and making connections, I know a lot more than I did now that I’ve completed my motorsport engineering course.”
Above: Luke Sawyer - Student Motorsport Media Centre - Croft - July 2026 (Photo: Isabel Clark)
From Local Rental Karts to Team Selection
Despite his lifelong passion, Luke’s actual driving journey began relatively late compared to many of his peers on the CityCar Cup grid.
“I was feeling a bit lost in February 2023 so my dad gave me a nudge and took me to my local karting track. The visit reignited my love for motorsport. I started karting regularly and I was quite successful as well. It was a good place to start from as I hadn’t done a lot of driving before. I feel I started quite late compared to others but ever since, I’ve been behind the wheel of something!”
That momentum carried directly into his studies at NSCG, where his college launched a structured assessment programme to choose its 2026 driver lineup.
“I enrolled at Stafford College to study for two years and it was during that time that the college’s interest in competing in the Student Motorsport Competition began to grow. The college devised a comprehensive driver selection programme which included karting and sim racing, both of which I had a lot of experience in.
“There was a large group of us who were interested in being considered as drivers and some had karting experience and some had sim racing experience so even at the early stages, there was a lot of discussion about who would be chosen. We visited a VR centre which had racing simulators and we raced against each other there and from that, they selected the quickest and we went karting. The top two from the karting sessions ended up being Jake Gittus (Luke’s fellow NSCG driver for the opening weekends of the 2026 season) and myself which is how we became drivers for NSCG.”
Adapting to WFC Racing at Croft and Looking Ahead to 2027
Moving to Waltham Forest College Racing for Croft gave Luke a fresh perspective on paddock operations as he stepped into a new squad that has impressed throughout its debut season.
“WFC Racing is very thorough, they’ve got a good set of people running it and they know what they’re doing,” said Luke. “If I didn’t know they were a new team to the Competition, I wouldn’t have thought it, such is their passion, commitment and work ethic.”
Above: Waltham Forest College team members hard at work on the '34 Citroen, driven at Croft by Luke Sawyer - July 2026 (Photo: Andy Lloyd)
With important racing miles banked across multiple teams in 2026, Luke’s focus is firmly set on establishing a complete campaign for next season. He has worked hard to establish relationships with Overclockers UK, the UK’s leading retailer of custom built and ready to ship PCs and components, sheet metal manufacturers KMF Group and Zest Aesthetics, who offer a modern and fresh approach to anti-ageing treatments. Looking to the future, Luke is planning to build on his driving experience with another year in the Student Motorsport Competition.
“Next year I want to have a full season with one team and be properly committed to one space so I can see how far I can really go. If something crops up in the meantime, I may consider it but at the moment my plan is to come back. I love this paddock and it’s a really nice place to be so why not?”
Grounded, analytical and technically educated, Luke Sawyer represents the exact ethos of the Student Motorsport Competition, combining academic motorsport engineering with real-world trackside performance. Given the right backing and continued race seat opportunities, he remains a young driver to watch closely as 2027 approaches.
