USP Palmers College student and racing driver Emily Linscott flew to the United States last week to compete in the Lucas Oil School of Racing Cooper Tires Scholarship Shootout, where 27 of the finest young drivers from around the globe fought to win one of five invaluable prizes.

Former St Clere's School student Emily was the only female and the only Briton in the line-up.

The competition involved on-track assessments in a single seater Formula car and simulator assessments, plus one-to one-interviews with former racing driver turned broadcaster and commentator, Brian Till, whose job was to ask searching questions of the drivers to determine who could cope with the on-camera pressures, and who would be an asset to businesses in the motorsport world.

Emily recorded the highest score in this element, quite fitting, as her bubbly personality helped her stand out and she was assessed as having a natural ability to provide interesting insight into her life as a racing driver!

The Copper Tires Shootout, a three-day affair, was held at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida, in mixed conditions, which provided the perfect test for the youngster's prowess behind the wheel. The first on-track day was sunny with blustery winds, with the second day receiving a mixture of light and heavy rain, treacherous standing water and then sunshine, just to make things that bit trickier.

Emily said of her time there: "All the drivers had a job to do and we were being assessed on everything we did throughout the day, not just what we did in our interviews and track session, but how we conducted ourselves during the days and how we interacted with each other too. The format was fantastic.

"It was very professionally done; all of the instructors gave us feedback about how to adapt our driving, which really helped. We had some current professional factory drivers talk about what top teams expect from their drivers, which gave us an insight into the world we want to be in too."

Emily's mentor, seven time Indy 500 driver, Pippa Mann, ruled herself out of the judging panel prior to the contest once she had learned that her charge was one of the chosen few to compete, jokingly stating in her business tutorial that "it is all Emily's fault I'm not one of the judges this year."

She said it with huge pride as her young hopeful continued her progression in style.

The youngster said of her achievement: "I'm very happy with third place overall. I obviously wanted to win but to be honest, the competition was extremely high, so I'm pleased to have proven to the judging panel I was worthy of the top five places.

"This guarantees that a third of my US season budget is covered, which has already helped secure a new partnership and a better renegotiation of an existing contract for next year, so I'm very happy right now.

"Pippa and I had some positive meetings and business lunches in her hometown of Indianapolis, home to the famous Indy 500 race, from which has come some additional involvement.

"We have also planned a Crowdfunding Campaign to enable my supporters to be part of my 2020 season, some of the perks we've worked out are amazing , there's some incredible opportunities coming along for everyone involved; I can't wait to launch on the 1st of February.

Looking ahead to next season, the Basildon-based youngster will not only contest the full Lucas Formula Series in America, but will reunite with her teammate and sponsor, Peter Bassill, in his GT4 Ginetta, as they will contest a full season in the UK based GT Cup Championship.

The duo took three podium places this past season in their first half season together, two of which being back-to-back wins at the hallowed Brands Hatch circuit in Kent just a month ago.

Emily says: "My season kicks off at Laguna Seca in California in February and it finishes with USF2000 testing at Indianapolis in October; how awesome is that! I'm ready to start right now if I could!"