WEYMOUTH-born racing driver Sam Webster is set for an exciting year as he embarks on his first full campaign at the British GT Championships, which starts tomorrow.

The 20-year-old is very much living the dream, after he took up driving from an early age at the Clay Pigeon circuit, where Former F1 World Champion Jenson Button also began his motorsport career.

Webster progressed quickly, moving into national competitions, which culminated in him winning the prestigious British Open title in 2015 before graduating to a part season in cars during 2016.

Webster currently works full-time for his dad’s business, and says that his introduction to motorsport is somewhat different from his competition.

He said: “The motorsport world has huge financial dictations on what you can do, and compared to everyone else we have quite a small budget.

“My dad owns a plumbing and heating business, we are up against drivers with far bigger budgets. Some of the drivers are bringing annual budgets deep into 6 figures, so it’s nice to be competing with that as a slight underdog.”

The next chapter In Websters' fledgling career is to compete in the British GT Championships, which sees seven rounds of racing spread between April and September, and will see the racers compete at venues including Donnington Park and Silverstone.

The competition starts tomorrow at Oulton Park in Cheshire, and Webster is currently in the middle of some demanding preparations.

He said: “We’ve got a testing plan in place and outside of that it’s just an intense training regime.

“The races are two hours long and it’s shared with a team-mate, and depending on the tactics we use the time in the car could vary from 55 minutes to 110.

“It’s gets hot inside the car. You have your gearbox alongside you and the exhaust below so it gets really hot. From a cardio point of view it works out well because my girlfriend is training to be a personal trainer, and I’ve been training at New Body Fitness who have been really good over the last few years.

“People forget that it’s an elite sport, you aren’t a racing driver, you’re an athlete.”

Despite it being Webster’s first full year competing at this level, the youngster is keen to set the bar high.

He said: “The team I’m racing with are called Team Hard. They won the constructors’ title last year so they’ll be hungry to retain that and want the drivers’ championship as well, so my partner (Matt Chapman) and I will be pushing towards that.

“You always go in looking to win. We’re not just there to make up the numbers, our aim is definitely to challenge for the title.”

Team Hard will be competing using cars manufactured by British company Ginetta, and the young driver has said that the car will more than hold its own as it competes.

He said: “We’re happy with the car choice for the year.

“It’s a purpose built racing car, whereas other models are road cars which have been converted to racing cars.

“On some circuits our competitors get the better of us because they’ve got more power, whereas other tracks are more tight and twisty and are more suited to the Ginetta, so it’ll be a proper year-long battle.

“It’s not like F1 where you know someone like Lewis Hamilton is going to win, some circuits are a lot more focused on handling, whereas as others are more suited to cars with more power with handling not being as critical.

“Last year’s champions who raced with Optimum Motorsport are returning and there are new entries including the McLaren team, who I think will be the toughest competition this time round.

“But we’re not there to make up the numbers, we’re there for a purpose. We’re there to win.”

Safe to say it’s going to be an exciting year as the youngster moves one step closer to his dream of becoming a full-time racing driver, and Webster summed his feelings up by saying: “To be honest, jumping in a car and driving round and put laps in, there’s not many better ways to spend a day.”

You can watch Sam's races live as they begin the season at Oulton Park. Races can be viewed on the FrontRunner TV channel on Easter Monday. (Sky 468, Freesat 250, BT and Freeview 91)