A University of Birmingham student has made it to the national final of a major motorsport competition.

Mike Hart will be racing in front of around 20,000 spectators when he competes in the Red Bull Track Attack karting final on the closed streets of Cardiff on May 1.

He will be up against 12 other finalists from all over the country, plus Red Bull's three Racing Formula One drivers: Christien Klien, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.

The second-year Mechanical Engineering student is an active committee member and driver with the University of Birmingham's Motor Racing Club and has travelled throughout the UK competing in the British University Karting Championship, the only student motorsport series of its kind in the world.

After qualifying for the Track Attack regional finals in his home town of Leicester earlier this month, he competed at the PF International kart track in Lincolnshire on April 9 and made it into a final race against 19 drivers.

‘Having qualified tenth I was able to get an excellent start and and worked my way up to second position where I remained for the rest of the ten-lap race,’ said Mike.

The national final will be broadcast on ITV1 on June 3 in an hour-long programme with commentary by one of Britain's leading Formula One drivers David Coulthard.

Ends

For more information

Kate Chapple, Press Office, University of Birmingham. 0121 414 2772 or 07789 921164.