THE University of Bolton has taken to the tracks as its Ginetta-Nissan LMP3 made its debut in the first race of the new European Le Mans season.

Taking place at the world famous Silverstone, the university was one of 31 participating teams in the four-hour race on Saturday.

The car was be raced by the university’s partner racing team, RLR Msport, with drivers Rob Garofall and Jens Petersen behind the wheel.

Powered by a Nissan V8 engine capable of 500bhp, the Ginetta-Nissan LMP Track Car houses a Xtrac 6-speed sequential gearbox with paddleshift, as well as FIA approved high capacity fuel system.

Qualifying and free practice took place on Friday and the race was shown live on Motors TV.

The University of Bolton team came third in the new LMP3 class, which features aspiring Le Mans racers of the future.

The team shared the podium with Olympic gold winning cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and his talented young team mate Charlie Robertson who took first place.

Teams will now travel to Imola in Italy, Red Bull Ring in Austria, Le Castellet in France and Estoril in Portugal over the next six months.

The University of Bolton is the first university in the UK to have an in-house, fully-functioning race team on a university campus and the world’s first owner of the Ginetta-Nissan LMP3.

Bosses say university students develop their skills through an advanced performance engineering career experience in the classroom, in the workshop and on the race track.

And as part of the relationship between the university and Ginetta, internships will be offered to University of Bolton students at their head office in Leeds in areas such as design and aerodynamics.

A spokesman for the university said: "With Ginetta already demonstrating a proven route through motorsport for aspiring racing drivers, this will provide unrivalled opportunities for undergraduate engineers to gain hands-on experience, vital in the competitive motorsport workplace."