Teenager Thomas Merritt has been selected to join a coveted driving academy.

The 15-year-old, from Kings Hill, is one of only nine drivers in the UK to be picked for the FF Corse GT Academy, which has been set up to support young drivers on their motorsport journey.

Merritt, who is currently racing in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship, will be given access to media training, fitness assessments, commercial insight, engineering guidance, and coaching in the iZone simulator at Silverstone.

FF Corse will also be evaluating each driver’s ability to take on board all the aspects required to develop as a modern driver.

Merritt said: “This is a fantastic opportunity and I’d like to thank Phil Bennett, Mark Armstrong, and the entire team at FF Corse for putting their faith in me.

“It’s a privilege to be among the drivers who have been selected for this and I am delighted to be part of the academy.

“The work we’ve already undertaken has been hugely beneficial and I look forward to continuing to work with FF Corse to develop my skills both on and off the circuit.”

Phil Bennett, from the academy, said: “We selected Thomas for the FF Corse GT Driver Academy because we were very impressed with the combination of the on-track ability he has shown to date in his junior career and his extraordinary motivation, which is beyond his years.

“Thomas is racing this year in the very competitive Fiesta Junior series, and we want to keep close to Thomas as I think he has the right characteristics that we can shape for him to be a very good professional driver.”

Merritt will next be on track at Croft on July 13-14 for the next round of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship.