Autosport Plus

The tough baptism awaiting a future GT star

Replacing a four-time champion means British GT4 title winner Tom Canning has big boots to fill as he steps into the top GT3 class this year, but the 18-year-old is backing himself for success

James Newbold Mar 6, 2020, 2:38 PM

This season, Tom Canning will be stepping into the boots of arguably the greatest driver in British GT's history as he replaces four-time series champion Jonny Adam alongside defending GT3 champion Graham Davidson in their title-winning TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3. That's no small undertaking for a driver aged just 18.

But for a man who was still too young to legally drink the alcohol he sprayed on the podium after claiming the GT4 title with Ash Hand last season, Canning has a remarkably calm head on his shoulders - a fact reflected by Aston's decision to select him out of 22 other applicants as the winner of its revived Driver Academy.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.