The tough baptism awaiting a future GT star

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.

One of the mentors on that programme was a certain Mr J Adam, the acknowledged master of pro-am racing, who joins Ahmad Al Harthy in the car on the other side of the TF garage. And you can bet the Aston factory ace's sights will be firmly set on title number five - as well as reclaiming the No. 1 that Davidson will use this year.

It's a whole different scale of challenge than what Canning has experienced before in his young career, so he's not wrong when he acknowledges that "there is some pressure there" - not least from Davidson, himself one of the benchmark amateurs in the series who has worked with top pros Adam and Maxime Martin in recent seasons.

"It's a platform for him to take a big jump on from GT4 Silver-Silver and straight into Pro-Am in GT3," says Davidson. "A lot of drivers at his age would normally be expected to do a few years of GT4 and then maybe step into GT3 in a silver car."

TF Sport boss Tom Ferrier rates Canning very highly after his "outstanding" performances with the team last year - not least at Spa, where he doggedly tracked Josh Smith's McLaren for lap after lap before eventually pouncing at the Bus Stop on the penultimate tour to take victory - and urged the youngster to swerve a sideways step into the GT4 European Series in favour of a move into GT3.

"I can't see there being any reasons why they won't be challenging for race wins," says Ferrier. "Yes, he was outstanding in GT4, but I think he's under no illusions of what the level is like of factory drivers in GT3, so it's going to be a really good step for him.

"That's why we pushed for him to do it so much, because I know he had a lot of offers to do European GT4, but we said 'you're never going to have a chance like this to go with a Graham Davidson who is already a champion and very, very fast', and then you're in the championship-winning team with a championship-winning team-mate, so it really is the best place you can learn. If he does really well, it could open up all sorts of doors.

"We're going to try to make it a non-pressured environment for him, but he's fully aware he's with the big boys now."

While some might be demoralised by having Adam in the same machinery, Canning knows it will be a marvellous opportunity

It will be a big ask for Canning to replicate all the nuances of working with amateur drivers that Adam has picked up over the past decade in only his first season of GT3 - at the same time as learning the car and the art of mastering the traffic - but armed with the confidence of his team boss and a title under his belt, Canning is backing himself to succeed. After all, he's seen Adam's methods in action first-hand from his involvement in the Academy last season.

"Jonny helped me with simulator work and coaching, he was very helpful last year," reveals Canning. "He's a master of bringing on drivers, I certainly learned a lot from him as a young driver and he is where I want to be in a few years' time."

Canning says he's feeling "the best I've felt going into a championship ever" and, having quickly mastered the new-for-2019 Vantage GT4, is confident that he can adapt equally fast to the "quicker, louder and bigger" GT3 model in which he enjoyed a productive test at Silverstone last season.

"It's a really nice way to step up to GT3 because I know the team, I know Graham and I know that they're both capable of getting the job done," Canning (above left) continues. "My goal for this season is definitely to go for the championship, I know there might be some doubt on that as it's my first year in GT3, but I feel confident."

And while some might be demoralised by having Adam in the same machinery, Canning knows it will be a marvellous opportunity for him to learn at even closer quarters, sharing engineering debriefs and comparing minute details on the data traces.

"Having Jonny in the team is going to be brilliant," says Canning. "He's a really nice guy and easy to talk to, so there's a lot I can learn from him this season.

"One of the other reasons for this being the perfect opportunity for me to go into GT3 is having Jonny there to learn off. At the end of the day he is one of our competitors and if we are in the championship fight - which I'm confident we will - the other car is going to be right there too, so I've still got to have the goal of outperforming him by the end of the season. I need to learn as much as I can, but at the end of the day, he is a competitor as well."

Canning and Davidson had a similarly tough start to their respective campaigns last season before coming on strong in the second half of the year. Canning and Hand scored no points at all at the Oulton Park double-header, while Davidson crashed out on the last lap of the second race to throw away potentially crucial points.

Neither can afford to give their rivals such a head-start this time around if they are to keep the No. 1 on their windshield next year. Both know that to do so, each will have to raise their performance another notch and defeat the master at his own game. This is a big year for Canning, but it might also be the making of him.