GT4 champion Canning wins Aston Marting Driver Academy prize
British GT4 champion Tom Canning has set his sights on a Le Mans class victory within five years after being announced as the winner of the Aston Martin Racing Driver Academy.
The 17-year-old was confirmed as the winner last Thursday, besting 22 other drivers including co-champion Ash Hand to be selected as the revived programme’s second graduate, after Ross Gunn in 2015. This followed a year-long evaluation from a panel of judges that included Aston Martin Racing works drivers Darren Turner and Jonny
Adam, as well as team principal Paul Howarth.
Canning will receive career assistance and guidance from AMR next year, including a financial contribution to his race programme. Speaking to MN, Canning said that his target remains to step up to British GT3 next year, with a campaign in European
GT4 also a possibility.
“We’ve got some support from Aston Martin now, so hopefully that should open up some more opportunities with their customer teams next year,” he said.
“The biggest thing for me is to have the connection with Aston Martin and opening up the potential opportunity to race in something like WEC in a few years’ time. I need to continue to perform, and I’ve got the connection where if I do perform, it can help me get to a much higher level and potentially racing with the factory team in the future.
“The ultimate goal for me is to win Le Mans in GTE Pro in the next five years with Aston Martin, and looking long-term after that, I’d like to win Le Mans overall.”