Prodrive and Aston Martin chairman David Richards will team up with Rowan Atkinson to race an Aston Martin Vantage GT4 at the second round of the Aston Martin British GT4 Challenge at Silverstone on May 22.

Richards, who won the World Rally Championship in 1981 as a co-driver, has been eager to get behind the wheel of Aston Martin's latest customer race car.

"I raced an old DB3S at Goodwood and while I really enjoyed it, my wife wasn't too happy as the car had little in the way of modern safety features," said Richards. "When we launched the new GT4 Challenge series this year, I thought it would be a great opportunity to go racing in something much safer."

It was Richards' idea to introduce the new Aston Martin British GT4 Challenge as a place for owners of the Vantage GT4 and N24 to compete on a level playing field.

"After testing the new car and finding out how much fun it is to drive, all I needed was a partner, as there was no way I was going to survive two hours behind the wheel on my own," he said. "I was speaking to Rowan recently, who has raced Astons in the past, and he was up for the challenge, so we thought we would give it a go together."

Atkinson has yet to drive the Vantage GT4, although a joint test session for the pair is planned on Friday May 21 at Silverstone.

They will be among an expected grid of 15 cars at the Silverstone race, which takes place the next day and is the second of the six round series, which commenced at Snetterton in April.