Josh Webster has been announced as the 2014/15 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Scholarship winner. The 19-year-old from Stowmarket in Suffolk has won the £160,000 prize, which is £80,000 per year towards his 2014 and 2015 Porsche Carrera Cup GB budgets.

Webster, who has an extensive and successful background in single-seaters, raced in the 2013 GP3 Series but has now decided to switch to sports and GT racing and saw the Carrera Cup Scholarship as a perfect platform for the next stage of his racing career.“Driving the car was absolutely mind-blowing,” said Webster after sampling the 911 GT3 Cup on the Silverstone National circuit during an intensive evaluation programme on Tuesday (22 October). “It is such a big difference from single-seaters, but I think I’m in love! It was a lot more nimble than I expected and it was really responsive.”Webster was elated when he heard the news earlier today (25 October). “I’m absolutely delighted for me and my parents: we’re still bouncing off the walls! I just can’t wait to get started and get some more seat time in the Porsche. I’m on a real high with the news. I know it was a tough call and I want to credit the other finalists, because they pushed really hard and any one of us could have won it.”An expert judging panel, including Porsche factory driver Nick Tandy and current Carrera Cup GB champion and former Scholarship driver Michael Meadows, faced a tough task in selecting Webster from four very strong candidates. Ignas Gelzinis, Ryan Ratcliffe and Ross Wylie all performed extremely well, both on-track and out of the car.Marion Barnaby, from the Porsche Cars GB Motor Sport Department, said that the judges’ faced a very difficult decision. “Any of the four finalists would be a worthy Scholar. However, we could only select one driver and we believe we have an exceptional Scholar in Josh Webster.”