A Bradford man is aiming to be a world champion racing driver one day.

Peter Crotty, who lives in Allerton, is bidding to reach the top after becoming a member of the Stancombe Vehicle Engineering team in this year's Ford Credit Fiesta Zetec-S Championship.

Peter, 35, has blasted into the championships in an impressive manner. After five rounds he is lying 13th overall, and fifth in the newcomers' cup.

But he is in desperate need of funding from sponsors and has only been able to take part in two of the first five races because of a lack of cash.

The fact that he has raced at all this year is mostly down to Urban Planters Limited, of Clayton, an interior plant specialist. With their help he has been able to enter the last two rounds of the competition at Cheshire's Oulton Park and Croft Circuits in North Yorkshire, where he finished in fifth and tenth places respectively.

Peter has returned home to compete after a five-year spell in the USA where he worked for a website design company while sometimes racing at famous circuits such as Daytona and Sebring in Florida.

Now, living back in Allerton, he is driving in the championship for the first time and also working for himself, trading as a website designer at his Chequered Flag Web Design business.

He said: "I got into the team by simply speaking to team boss Colin Stancombe in the paddock last year. I told him about my experiences in the USA and he took me on. It was a bit cheeky really!"

But the encouraging start that Peter has had will end unless he can secure funding to compete in the rest of the championship.

"Racing drivers will always say that they have the talent to shine - but I'm glad I've just had the chance to prove it," he said. "I know that I will get great exposure if only I can continue to race this year.

"Hopefully a local company can step in to help me, and benefit from the association with such a high-profile racing series.

"The big benefit of someone helping with sponsorship is that the coverage is on TV."

Peter is keen to establish himself as a driver and go further in the racing world.

He said: "The plan is to finish off this season in the top five and win the championship next year.

"Then I would look to step up into the touring car championships - that is the aim of the game!''