A leading stock car driver from Oxfordshire will make his race debut in Sprint Cars, America’s most prestigious short-oval category, this summer.

Tom Harris, 26, from Banbury, has bought a front-running Bob East chassis to tackle three events – Gas City (on July 10), Kokomo (July 11) and Lawrenceburg (July 12) in the USAC Sprint Week in the Amsoil National Sprint Championship.

He returns home in late July to compete in a further six events.

The switch to US racing follows Harris’s successful debut in the lower Midget category in January and marks the first time in the modern era that a British driver has entered the Sprint Car category that regularly sees top drivers from NASCAR and Indycars compete.

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“We talked at the start of the year about making the switch to racing in the US as the best way to progress my career,” says Harris.

“We’ve won pretty much everything we can here in the UK and had to stop talking about it and just do it.”

Harris added: “I’ve seen the huge opportunities available to forge a professional career in the USA.

“Now we move on and take on the best the rest of the world has to offer.”

Meanwhile, Eynsham's Dave Messenger put in an impressive performance as he finished fourth in the Alfa Romeo Twin Spark Cup at Snetterton.

Racing for the first time at the Norfolk track he qualified third fastest for the first race.

However, it all went wrong when his car was damaged in a first-lap incident, dropping him to last.

He then had to charge back through the field before eventually finishing eighth.

Messenger’s team of mechanics worked through the night to repair the car in time for the second race, where he finished fourth.

The result leaves Messenger second in the Alfa Romeo Championship, behind reigning champion James Bishop.