LONDON, Nov 7: A British government minister has stepped down to follow his dream of becoming a race-car driver. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s office said on Wednesday that defence procurement minister Lord Drayson was taking an indefinite leave of absence to compete in the American Le Mans series.

Paul Drayson, 47, a former pharmaceuticals entrepreneur appointed to the House of Lords in 2004, said last year that he took up competitive motor-racing as part of a “mid-life crisis.” Drayson, who competes in a bioethanol-fuelled Aston Martin, qualified for the US competition by placing second at this year’s British GT championship.

Drayson was appointed to the Ministry of Defence in 2005

by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to oversee Britain’s 15 billion pound ($30bn) military hardware budget.

In a letter to Brown, Drayson described the chance to compete as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” and “a key step towards my eventual dream of success in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race.”

The American Le Mans Series, a North American counterpart to the famous French endurance race, announced earlier this year that almost all its cars would race on biofuel.—AP