F1 star Barrichello to return to karting

Subaru man Plato delighted with victory in his 500th British Touring Car Championship race at Knockhill

Former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello will take part in the CIK-FIA World KZ Karting Championship in Sweden next month.

The 44-year-old races in the Stock Car V8 championship in Brazil but has sporadically raced karts since retiring from F1 at the end of 2011.

He finished fourth in last year’s Rotax Max DD2 World Final.

Barrichello, who will race for Birel ART in the championship that was won by Max Verstappen in 2013, said: “I am delighted to have accepted the invitation to become part of this great team.

“I am very much looking forward to racing, when I was young I did not have many chances to compete in international races.

“It’s a great dream which is about to come true.

“I’m training a lot and my commitment is 100 per cent, just like on the eve of a Formula 1 grand prix.”

Jason Plato says that taking victory in his 500th British Touring Car Championship race at Knockhill on Sunday was a special moment in his career.

The Team BMR Subaru Levorg driver started from pole position in the race and fended off his rivals for his 49th career victory.

The 48-year-old followed that up with two third place finishes to be the weekend’s top scorer and he has now vaulted up to seventh in the points standings, just 53 from the summit.

The win was Plato’s first of the 2016 campaign with the rear-wheel-drive Levorg machine.

The two-time champion said that the landmark was not part of his thinking going in to the meeting.

“The fact that it was a special race for me didn’t figure in the preparations for the weekend at Knockhill. That kind of thing isn’t usually that important to me, but when it happened I realised how special it was.”

Plato joined the championship in 1997 as a works driver with the Renault team in a Laguna and he won his first race at the ninth meeting of the season at Snetterton.

“It made me think back to the days when I was doorstepping Frank Williams and trying to get my break with the Renault team. Things have gone a long way from there, and to be able to race at the front and win after 500 rounds is a great acheivement. It does make me proud.”

Plato’s rival Matt Neal, who joined the BTCC in 1991, will reach the 600 race landmark later in the season.