Lunar Racing is preparing to make its debut in the Volkswagen Racing Cup with FUCHS Lubricants at the next rounds at Rockingham, with a Mk IV Golf GTI prepared for the track with the help of a group of schoolkids.
The Corby-based squad uses motorsport as a platform to help 14 to 18 year olds from the local area achieve GCSE-level qualifications in motor vehicle repairs and engineering. The team's Golf has been converted from a donated road car into a racing machine by the students over the last five months.
The car is set for its debut at the team's local track Rockingham, though who will drive the car has yet to be decided, with the team working with a number of different drivers. The team, who has previously ran cars in single-seater series, MG Car Club saloon events and, last year, the Fiat Abarth series, hope to expand to run a two-car team in the series in 2012.
Team boss Paul Kneeshaw said: “Since the demise of the Fiat championship we've been looking for a suitable series and the Volkswagen Racing Cup ticks all the right boxes in terms of the level of professionalism of the teams and the engineering of the cars. We are really looking forward to it.”
Championship manager Melissa Wright added: “We are over the moon to see Lunar Racing joining the championship. It is a great initiative for grass-roots motorsport and I know that the other competitors will be pleased to see the team and to offer them all the help they can.
“It is great also that Lunar has chosen an older-model Golf for the project, which adds further to the diversity of the grid, something for which the championship is justly famous.”