Kent’s Ben Gridley will be back on track at the Mini Festival at Brands Hatch in June after just missing out on a return this weekend.

He had to miss the opening round of the season at Snetterton and has been desperately trying to raise funds to get back racing for the next round, however the car will unfortunately not be ready for this weekend’s races at Brands Hatch.

Ben was just £1,000 short of being able to get back doing what he loves the most. He will now be back at Brands Hatch as part of the Mini Festival and will be cutting it amongst his competitors during the weekend.

Speaking about how much it would mean to him to get back on track in his Mini this weekend, Ben said: “It would mean everything to me. I have put in so much hard work since Donington Park last year to raise the budget for this season. I’ve been to networking events a few days every week since the turn of the New Year, fitting racing around my college work.”

There are a number of ways that people can get involved and sponsor Ben as he looks to fulfil his dream of being able to race this season.

Talking about how people can get involved, he added: “This opportunity is extremely cost effective. For the amount of potential customers you can reach for a relatively low cost is very unique and rare I feel. The MINI Challenge is shown on Motors TV which reaches over 350 million homes world-wide with its own stand-alone programme, a perfect platform to increase your customer base.

“We can offer so much more than advertising on the car though, including hospitality at race weekends. This is an opportunity for sponsors to entertain their clients, use it as a staff incentive or to impress potential customers.

“We can offer much more and the full list of benefits can be found on my proposal via www.bengridley.co.uk

“I’m certain that if a person is to sponsor me they will see a return on their investment, and this has been proven with past sponsors.”

Motorsport is an expensive sport and Ben revealed that he is going round by round this season although he wants to be racing for the full season.

He said: “In 2013 we are going on a round by round basis. This means that it costs less for businesses to get involved, and makes it even more cost effective. For a single round we have to raise £2,800. There is the possibility of being a season long sponsor, and you would receive a few extra benefits if you were to support me for the whole season.”

It is clear from talking with Ben that he has a massive passion for motorsport and just wants to be able to get back out there and do what he loves every weekend.

“Racing means everything to me, I live and breathe the sport and have been around it my entire life. There is no feeling that compares to sitting on the grid waiting for the lights to go out, and this is the reason I work hard to find sponsors. I hope that this season I can compete in the remaining rounds, and build some momentum so I can clinch my allusive first win, after being close before.”

The Mini Festival will take place over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of June and Ben is looking forward to being back a year after he was last there at the festival.