Marcus Simmons's Stars of Tomorrow

Santiago Urrutia

They start them young in Uruguay. But even so, for Urrutia to be in with an outside shot of the European Formula 3 Open title is pretty impressive - he doesn't celebrate his 17th birthday until the end of this month.

Urrutia was winning motocross races against older kids at the age of four, before making the logical move into karts, where he won titles in Uruguay and neighbouring Argentina.

At the end of 2011 he crossed the Atlantic to Italy to race in Formula Abarth. He quickly got on the pace and won the 2012 rookie title in the category's European series, as well as taking three overall race victories with the BVM team.

The step up to European F3 Open with Italian squad RP Motorsport has gone well, although the opening round at Paul Ricard has given him a mountain to climb: Urrutia tangled with Nelson Mason off the startline in one race and finished the weekend with just one point.

Since then he has won at the Algarve circuit and last time out at Silverstone to lie third in the points standings, which is topped by his ultra-consistent team-mate Sandy Stuvik.

Urrutia has enormous moral support from a country that has been looking for its first contender at the higher levels of international motorsport since the late Gonzalo Rodriguez.

Backing from state companies - including oil firm Ancap - has got him this far. And, such is his domestic profile, he has just received a pledge from the national government to ensure he finishes the 2013 season and gets sorted for next year.

At this rate, he's going to be hot property among the GP3/FIA European F3 teams for 2014.

Jack Aitken

He's been a serious thorn in the side of Fortec team-mate Matt Parry in Formula Renault NEC this season on the track, even if he's way adrift in the points table.

London-born 17-year-old Aitken has been knocking on the door of a win for a while. He has the speed - as proved by a double pole at Silverstone - but Parry has had a definite edge in races so far.

Aitken had success in regional and then national karting competition before a dip into the European scene in 2010. A quiet year in '11, to concentrate on his GCSEs, preceded a move into InterSteps with Fortec for '12.

He was comfortably the best car-racing rookie in the series for old Formula BMW machines, trailing only Parry (who had Formula Ford experience) and Matt Mason (who'd switched from Formula Renault BARC).

Aitken was then something of a revelation when he moved into the Formula Renault BARC Winter Series, and was narrowly pipped to the title by Seb Morris, who had already been a major contender in the category all season.

The gut feeling at Fortec is that Aitken is a seriously quick prospect, who is performing at a level higher than you'd expect from one of his experience.

The NEC title is almost certainly Parry's, but with two rounds remaining Aitken is definitely in the pound seats to secure the runner-up slot.

Jake Hughes

Back in 1976, a young Brummie named Nigel Mansell hooked up with Lanan Racing on British single-seater racing's bottom rung of the ladder - junior FF1600.

That's been repeated 37 years later: Lanan has another talented young Brummie on the books in the form of 19-year-old Jake Hughes, whose great recent form has propelled him to the top of the BRDC Formula 4 Championship.

Hughes wasn't one of the higher-profile recruits for Jonathan Palmer's new series: others had more glittering karting careers and his only car-racing experience was a brief taste of Formula Renault BARC at the end of 2012.

But he soon started posting some excellent testing times with the Graham Johnson-run Lanan team and took the honour of pole for the inaugural F4 race.

For various reasons it took a while for Hughes' season to really get into gear and his first win - at Snetterton - only came after the leading two were excluded for rear-wing infringements.

But a strong weekend on the Brands Hatch GP circuit thrust him into the limelight - and the series lead.

He took pole by nearly half a second, only lost victory in race one on the final lap when a fuel issue struck, and finally took a dominant first win on the road in the last race.

Hughes has the same management that took Alex Lynn into Formula 3, and Lynn has acted as driver coach, although Joey Foster is usually on duty in that role over race weekends.

He extended his points advantage last weekend on the Silverstone GP circuit, where he captured a podium in the opener and then picked up his third win of the season in race three. He now leads by 34 points, although the F4 race format is virtually guaranteed to send this title to the wire.

Martin Rump

Until recently, this Estonian had spent some time simultaneously leading two new-for-2013 junior championships.

Unfortunately for him, a disastrous outing two weekends ago at the Ostersund circuit means Rump has lost his lead in the Swedish Formula Renault 1.6 series.

Even so, he remains in front in the Formula Renault 1.6 NEC Junior series, against predominantly Dutch opposition but with some of his Swedish rivals also competing here.

To get there, he has scored a total of six wins from the 15 races to date across the two championships - run for the same Signatech chassis as used in French Formula 4.

It's therefore been a good season for the 17-year-old from Tallinn, who had something of a false start to his single-seater career.

A host of Baltic karting successes preceded a testing programme with the top Koiranen Bros Formula Renault 2.0 team in 2011.

Compatriot Marko Asmer, who coaches for Koiranen, saw a lot of promise but the money wasn't in place for a full-time move to cars in 2012.

Rump therefore returned to karting before joining Estonian squad Scuderia Nordica for this year.

At this point both titles hang in the balance. He narrowly leads Dutchman Roy Geerts in the NEC, while it's Erik Johansson who has deposed him in the Swedish thanks to winning both races at Ostersund: Rump sailed off the road while leading race one and copped drive-through penalties while trying to recover from his back-of-grid start in race two.

Macauley Jones

Australia isn't exactly short on racing dynasties - the Brabhams, Joneses and Davisons spring to mind for starters - and now there's another Jones family following the pattern.

The son of former Australian Super Touring champion and current V8 Supercars team boss Brad Jones and cousin of V8 racer Andrew, 18-year-old Macauley is in his second season in his homeland's hotly contested Formula Ford championship.

Fields aren't massive, but the leading drivers are very evenly matched. So it's impressive that Jones, driving a Mygale SJ13 run by Minda Motorsport, took five wins in six races in July during the series' double Queensland stop-offs at the Townsville street circuit and then Queensland Raceway.

That has moved Jones to the top of the championship, which still runs with the old Duratec engines and entertains the V8 Supercar crowds as a support category.

Last year's Formula Ford Rookie of the Year, he is one of Australian motorsport's governing body's CAMS Rising Stars, and is carrying strong momentum into his home round of Winton.

Racing is a family business for the Joneses, and Macauley works as an apprentice mechanic at the Brad Jones Racing Holden squad.

He labels his dad as his motor racing hero, which sounds like a pretty handy way of buttering up the old man before asking, 'Dad, can I borrow your Commodore?'

Scott Hargrove

The US F2000 Championship, which occupies the bottom rung of the 'Road to Indy' ladder in the States, has attracted a huge field this year, and this Canadian is sitting at the top of it as the season run-in begins.

If British Columbian Hargrove does win the title, then it will be a triumph of consistency for the 18-year-old.

Neil Alberico, who competed in British Formula Ford in 2011, has won more races.

But Hargrove's four additional podium finishes to add to his three early-season race wins - one at Sebring and two at St Petersburg - have given him the edge.

That's a turnaround from the pre-season Winterfest, in which he trailed Alberico.

Both drivers are with series powerhouse team Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, Hargrove having switched over from JDC MotorSports, with which he completed his rookie season.

Before going F2000, Hargrove had a successful karting career in North America where he represented the Italian Motors team of Grand-Am ace Michael Valiante, of whom he remains a protege.

He then won a Skip Barber Racing School scholarship, which was supported by Mazdaspeed Motorsports and the FIA Motorsports Safety Development Fund, and claimed the runner-up spot in the 2011 Skip Barber Summer Series.

With just two rounds - at Laguna Seca and the Houston street circuit - remaining, he's on the verge of going one better to claim his first championship title in cars.