A 15-YEAR-OLD from Oldham is on track to become the next Lewis Hamilton after winning a season of racing.

The one-to-watch motor racing star has won the Ginetta Junior, the biggest prize in junior UK motorsport.

Maurice Henry made it through an intense three-day competition that saw 65 young drivers battle it out in front of a judging panel that featured motorsport insiders and professional racing drivers.

The Oldham Times:

Maurice Henry (pictured) has won the Ginetta Scholarship

Maurice, who had never driven the Ginetta G40 race car before, impressed the judges with his raw talent and won a funded season of racing in the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship.

He will be joining Fox Motorsport in Ginetta Juniors and pilot their Ginetta G40 race car at the most famous race circuits across the UK.

The young driver will be racing live on ITV4 alongside the British Touring Car Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup GB in front of over 19 million viewers annually.

Maurice said he was thrilled to join Fox Motorsport in Ginetta Juniors where he will race alongside Liam McNeilly who enters his second year in the championship.

He said: “I chose Fox because I’ve had a good relationship with Liam McNeilly since we raced against each other in karting.

"I know that if I fit in well with a team, I’ll find it easier to extract the maximum performance from myself,” Maurice added.

Maurice has been racing karts since the age of eight, winning the South Yorkshire Kart Club’s Honda Cadet MSA title in 2014, followed by the Shenington KRC Honda Cadet title in 2016.

In 2017, he finished as the runner-up in the Northern Karting Federation before switching to rallying.

Maurice added: “My ambition is to be a factory GT driver, so driving for a team like Fox, who have been successful at every level of motorsport they’ve contested - right up to international GTs - is ideal, as is being a part of the Ginetta ladder that has given opportunities to so many talented racing drivers.”