Top single-seater driver Nick Cassidy has been awarded a MotorSport NZ President’s Scholarship for 2012.

The MotorSport NZ funded award will see Nick, who is also an Elite MotorSport Academy graduate, receive specialist support to further his career which has gone from strength to strength both here in NZ and overseas in the past twelve months.

The Aucklander who is now based in the UK won the 2012 Toyota Racing Series title convincingly, plus the much coveted NZ Grand Prix trophy.  He was then signed by leading British race team Fortec Motorsport and has been competing overseas in the Formula Renault Eurocup Series.

The seventeen year old is currently in NZ and will be spending time at the High Performance Sport NZ facility in Dunedin this week.  The resources that are available for the Academy graduates and Scholarship winners through this facility are world class and at the top level of what are available for New Zealand’s elite athletes.

“We are delighted to be able to award Nick with the President’s Scholarship this year,” MotorSport NZ president Shayne Harris commented.

“His results in our domestic competition speak for themselves and we are thrilled to be able to offer him help to achieve his goals on the overseas racing scene, “Mr Harris said. “We look forward to following his progress over the next few months as he continues to showcase his skills overseas.”