TOM Bradshaw’s career as a professional racing driver has just moved up a gear after winning a place in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Schola-rship programme for 2009.

Bradshaw, from Blackburn, will receive £50,000 towards racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB next season.

The 19-year-old was selec-ted from six finalists after two days of intensive evaluation at Silverstone in the programme, designed to find two drivers to follow the path of Richard Westbrook to being a professional sports car racer.

Bradshaw contested the Formula Palmer Audi single-seater championship this season, finishing as runner-up, but will now race a 170mph Porsche 911GT3 next year as he bids to make a career as a professional racer.

He said: “I can’t believe it, it’s an amazing opportunity with a huge manufacturer behind me and I can’t wait to get started.

“I want a career in sports car racing and this is a massive boost.

“It’s a great car and a great championship, although it will be a steep learning curve, I’m confident I can be up at the front.”

Created and run by Porsche Cars GB, the ‘Carrera Cup GB Scholarship Programme’ will provide £50,000 to each of the drivers to use as a significant element of their budget for the 2009 Carrera Cup GB season.

From over 50 applications, six finalists were selected for the evaluation programme at the Porsche Driving Experience Centre at Silver-stone.

“Initially, the Scholarship programme was a toe-in-the-water exercise, but it has quickly become a fundamental part of Carrera Cup GB and it feels like such a right thing to do,” said Geoff Turral, Marketing Director, Porsche Cars GB Limited.

“The breadth of the evaluation they have gone through has really got under the skin of what these guys are all about and that feels so naturally Porsche.”

Westbrook was on hand throughout the evaluation to work with the drivers and will act as a mentor to Bradshaw and Hopkins over the coming year.

Westbrook, the 2004 Carrera Cup champion, went on to win the international Porsche Supercup in both 2006 and 2007 and is now a Porsche factory driver competing in a programme of international GT racing.