Hillspeed, the current champions and team to beat in the Ginetta Junior Championship have confirmed 15 year old karting ace, Nathan Harrison, as their first signing for the 2012 season.

Harrison has been making waves in the karting world and has a string of titles to his name – Super 1 ABkC Mini Max Karting Champion, Southern Karting Champion and West Midlands Karting champion to name but a few.

The move marks his debut into the world of car racing, a challenge the talented Harrison feels ready for: “I really can’t wait. We always knew we’d come into cars when I was old enough, karting is the foundation and there wasn’t much else we could do there really. This is most definitely the right time to make the step-up and take on a new challenge.”

Oxfordshire based Harrison joins an already successful team and will have a lot to live up to at Hillspeed. Newcomers to Ginetta in 2010 the team already have the previous two season’s champions to their credit, Tom Ingram in 2010 followed by the Winter Series trophy in the same year with Seb Morris who after an impressive season went on to win the overall title in 2011.

However the newly signed Rookie looks set to take it in his stride, “We know it’ll be tough, there are going to be some very experienced second and third year drivers in the championship, but we’re aiming for a strong debut and focused on fighting at the front.”

Team Principal Richard Ollerenshaw is evidently thrilled by the new signing and said of Nathan that the team was “confident he’ll make strong progress and become a real force in Ginetta Junior. We can’t wait to begin our pre-season testing programme with him, it’s fantastic to have the chance to work with a driver boasting such a superb karting pedigree.”

Ollerenshaw went on to highlight the important role Ginetta play in the development of young talented drivers in motorsports, “This deal with Nathan only came about because, thanks to Ginetta, he’d had the chance to test a G40 at Bedford Autodrome just before Christmas. It’s that level of support and commitment from such a proactive manufacturer which helps the championship thrive and stand-out from the competition, Lawrence Tomlinson (Ginetta Cars Chairman) and his team deserve a lot of credit.”

With rounds 1 and 2 of the season tantalizingly close on the 31st March – 1st April, the youngster will certainly have his work cut out for him before the team take on the Indy Circuit at Brands Hatch in Kent.

Nat Hills is our Ginetta Junior Championship correspondent for 2012. You can contact her at natalie@btcccrazy.co.uk or on twitter @nisciocco.