Rising British star switches disciplines from single-seaters to sportscarsLondon-born teenager excited to join forces with crack outfit GT MarquesWilliams-Harfield Sports Group protégé tipped for great things in 2016

Alessandro Latif will join the Porsche Carrera Cup GB grid this year, after agreeing terms to race for former title-winners GT Marques in the UK’s fastest one-make series.Despite being just 19 years of age, Latif has enjoyed a varied career since progressing from karting into car racing in 2012, competing in single-seaters, sports prototypes and GT endurance events. What’s more, the rising British star has predominantly ploughed his furrow abroad, most recently contesting the open-wheel Pro Mazda Championship in the United States last season, but in 2016, he is coming home.Late last year, Latif tested experienced outfit GT Marques’ potent, 460bhp Porsche 911 GT3 at both Snetterton – in heavy rain – and Donington Park. Whilst the weather was considerably kinder on his second day in the car, the circuit was new to him – as are the majority of venues on the fiercely-disputed, BTCC-supporting Porsche Carrera Cup GB calendar – but the London-born teenager is nothing if not a quick learner.Indeed, just under a year ago and as the youngest driver in the field, Latif finished inside the top five in-class in Australia’s Bathurst 12 Hour race, completing two marathon stints of more than two-and-a-half hours along the way. The dual UK and Italian citizen has also participated in the legendary Rolex 24 At Daytona, clinched the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series Pro-Am Championship crown and twice triumphed in-class in the prestigious Gulf 12 Hours amongst other headline-grabbing achievements – so his reputation as a supremely accomplished sportscar protagonist precedes him.Regarding his forthcoming challenge as the first phase of a long-term plan, Latif is aware that there will be a lot to learn and plenty to take on-board as he endeavours to acclimatise himself to the car, championship and British tracks – but he has rookie honours in his sights and is determined to grasp the opportunity with both hands.“I’m really looking forward to the season ahead!” enthused the Marlborough College graduate. “It’s exciting to be a part of the Porsche family, and hopefully this will be the start of a long relationship. It’s such a prestigious brand with an amazing racing history – there aren’t many bigger names in motorsport.“The Porsche Carrera Cup GB was revitalised in 2015; it really took off, with huge grids, spectacular cars, a level playing field, fantastic racing and a tremendous degree of interest and media focus. That’s proof that this is a product that teams, drivers, sponsors and fans can really buy into, and moving forward, it looks set to build upon that momentum and exponentially grow.“It’s a phenomenally competitive series, and the BTCC support package is a superb shop window – it’s extremely attractive to sponsors with its extensive live television coverage, impressive viewing figures and massive fan base. Drivers always love racing in front of large crowds, too – it really inspires us to put on a show.“The 911 is an iconic car that has been carefully developed over the course of more than half a century. Year upon year, Porsche has fine-tuned it and has never changed its philosophy. The result is a beautifully-engineered, perfectly-balanced car that handles brilliantly and is so well-planted to the ground. It just brings an instant smile to your face, and in testing, every time I returned to the pits I wanted to go straight back out on-track again.“The 911 GT3 has a lot of traction because the weight is at the rear, but there’s also a lot of power, which made my first test in the pouring rain at Snetterton pretty interesting... In those conditions, there’s a very fine margin between getting it right and getting it wrong – and you really don’t want to get it wrong! Donington was the first time I could get a feel for the car in the dry, and it’s very relatable to the Audi I drove in GTs in 2014, so hopefully that experience will ease the transition a little.“All that said, pre-season testing will be crucial – particularly with my lack of knowledge of UK circuits – and we need to make sure we maximise every single day so that we arrive at Brands Hatch for the first round as well-prepared as we can possibly be. There’s no doubt that I’ve got another big learning curve ahead, but hopefully this time it won’t be quite as steep as it has been in the past.“I began my career in endurance racing before moving into single-seaters last year, perhaps mistakenly. Of course I learned a lot from Pro Mazda, but in truth, my heart remained in sportscars. For me, that means Porsche – and that makes the Carrera Cup GB the next step on my journey. It’s a great opportunity, and I will put everything I have into making a success of it.”After several seasons in the shadows, the profile and calibre of the championship are now sky-high, attracting a wealth of up-and-coming talent all eager to shine and stake their claim to a professional career in the sport. Despite the illustrious opposition, GT Marques team principal Paul Mace is confident that Latif will be more than capable of holding his own.“Given how young Alessandro is, to have raced all over the world and competed in such classic events as Daytona and Bathurst is a formidable achievement,” he remarked. “When we tested him, he impressed us straightaway. At Donington, he had never seen the track before nor driven a car on slick tyres, yet after just 15 laps he had worked his way down to within a couple of tenths-of-a-second of the benchmark.“He took to the 911 GT3 like a duck to water and immediately felt at home in his new ‘office’. I think it’s fair to say we were all pretty blown away that he could perform at that kind of level so quickly – especially in light of his comparative lack of experience. That really made us sit up and take notice.“He will inevitably face a learning curve to begin with, but he has proven in the past that he has the ability to rapidly adapt – and most single-seater drivers get to grips with these cars pretty swiftly. Alessandro is extremely dedicated and has a burning desire to succeed, and I have very high hopes for him in 2016.”