British diplomat Will Dendy, who was chosen from hundreds of competition entrants to win a prize drive in the MINI Challenge round at Brands Hatch courtesy of Pirelli, has taken a step closer to achieving his ambitions.

Dendy passed his ARDS race licence test last week, which allows him to take part in national races and will put him on the grid for the MINI Challenge races from 13-14 September at Brands Hatch. Dendy won a shoot-out from 10 finalists at Thruxton in July, following a Pirelli UK Facebook competition to win a one-off prize drive on the action-packed MINI Challenge, which runs exclusively on the Italian tyres. With full grids of 1.6-litre turbocharged race-prepared cars, the competition is fast and frenetic.

In order to take up his prize, Dendy needed to obtain a race licence. With Pirelli having put him through the compulsory course, he comfortably passed the assessment last week.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have passed the test and got the green light to race in the MINI Challenge,” said the 26-year-old. “I just want to say a massive thank you to Pirelli for helping me to achieve my dreams. Racing has always been my passion, and it’s almost hard to believe that I’m going to be lining up on the grid at Brands Hatch in a month’s time. I’m really serious about trying to get as far as I can go in motorsport, so to have this step onto the ladder is absolutely invaluable.”

Dendy’s progress has been carefully charted step by step on Pirelli’s UK’s dedicated Facebook page, which now contains a brand new video about Dendy passing his ARDS test: the first step that every racing driver has to go through.

Watch the video by clicking here.

There have also been competitions supported by the #gowill campaign to win tickets to the MINI Challenge round at Brands Hatch as well as a Pirelli gift bag. The latest competition is to suggest a racing nickname for Dendy, with the winner set to be chosen shortly by the man himself.