Wilson Plc Extends Share Offer

Briton Justin Wilson today extended the deadline for investors to buy a share of his Formula One earnings until the end of May after securing almost £1 million in 40 days.

Wilson, who had to pay around £2 million to make his Grand Prix debut for Minardi this season, decided to give up his earnings to investors in a share scheme in an effort to secure the funding.

The scheme promises to reward investors by doubling their money and Wilson said: "It is fantastic to know I have such support out there and I have been amazed by the number of leading motorsport figures who have also bought a bit of me."

Wilson's father Keith has already stumped up £1 million for his son's chance of a lifetime but had promised to sell his family garage to fund the rest of the drive if the scheme failed.

"He is hugely relieved because our family garage is safe and I can be more relaxed knowing that he can sleep a bit easier now," admitted Wilson. "I have got over 650 shareholders backing me - that is truly inspirational."

Wilson has had a difficult season so far and is yet to score a point after struggling with the new Head and Neck Safety device that forced him to go to hospital with paralysis of the arm following the Malaysian Grand Prix.

But Wilson's manager Jonathan Palmer believes Wilson, who won the Formula 3000 championship in 2001, has what it takes to enjoy a long-term career in Formula One and said he expects the shares to be oversubscribed before the final closing date.

The investment scheme is limited to £1.2 million and Palmer said the remaining shares will now be issued on a first-come first-served basis.

"We are all absolutely thrilled with both the rate and amount of applications for shares," said Palmer. "We had no idea just how big the appetite would be to buy a slice of Justin.

"With applications for tens of thousands of shares still coming in daily there is no way we were going to deprive people of the opportunity to buy some of the remaining shares by stopping now."