A NEW sports prototype race car being developed by students in Bolton will be unveiled at a prestigious event.

The University of Bolton's Vice Chancellor Prof George Holmes will unveil the Ginetta-Juno LMP3 at Autosport 2015 at Birmingham's NEC.

The car is due to make its debut as part of he European and Asian Le Mans Series next year, where it will be raced by the university's partner racing team RLR Msport.

The prototype race car is being developed at the University of Bolton’s Centre for Advanced Performance Engineering.

Professor Holmes said: "Advanced performance engineering at Bolton is a unique offer from a UK university. Only our advanced performance engineering students have access to work on a Le Mans race team and as a result of our partnership with Ginetta they will now be working on the brand new LMP3 car. The UK has a shortage of engineers.

"Over 1.28m engineering professionals are required by 2020."

He added: "Graduate engineers with strong experience can expect to enjoy competitive starting salaries, and an average lifetime wage premium in excess of £250k.

" The real-world experience provided by the university gives our students a competitive edge for a wide range of successful, advanced engineering careers, making them stand out from the crowd."

The global unveiling will take place on stand 7120 at 11am on January 8, with Lawrence Tomlinson, chairman of Ginetta, who is offering internships with the company.

He said: "Ginetta is delighted to be able to continually develop our motorsport career ladder.

"Bolton University is one of the UK’s leading centres for the study of advanced performance engineering and prepares students for the best careers in engineering — in particular motorsport engineering — thanks to their first-hand experience working on a car in a motorsport environment, which is what I look for as an employer."