MULTIPLE British kart champion Alex Quinn has won Racing Steps Foundation backing to make the step up from karts to cars in the 2016 MSA Formula Championship.

The 14 years-old CRG factory driver from Camelford scooped the fully-funded drive at the end of a three day, 10-driver assessment staged by the not-for-profit Foundation last month.

The rigorous evaluation — conducted by RSF co-ordinator Derek Walters in conjunction with iZone, Porsche Human Performance Centre and Fortec Motorsports — involved psychometric and simulator tests, a comprehensive physiological assessment and a days on-track evaluation at Rockingham.

Quinn — who picked up the racing bug from one-time, amateur rally driver dad Sam — will race in the junior, one-make, British Touring Cars support series with Fortec.

The 30-race FIA-accredited Formula 4 championship features Mygale carbon fibre chassis powered by 1.6-litre Ford EcoBoost engines with sequential paddle-shift transmissions.

Quinn’s winter test programme gets underway later this month.

RSF co-ordinator Derek Walters said: "Alex impressed the entire team of assessors with his all-round capabilities. His times on the simulator and in the MSA Formula car at Rockingham were competitive from the word go and not so far off the datum set by one of our more senior drivers.

"Considering it was his first time in a single-seater, his feedback and set-up understanding were impressive too.

"It will be a tough championship for Alex to cut his teeth on but we’ll give him all the support he needs to hit the ground running."