Nelson Piquet will go head-to-head with seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher next weekend when he makes his first race appearance since leaving the Renault team earlier this year.

The Brazilian will take part in the Superkarts USA Super Nationals kart race, which will be held in Las Vegas in the grounds of the Rio All-Suites and Casino Complex.

Piquet will race for the Intrepid team and will go up against the likes of Schumacher and Sebastien Buemi in the SuperPro KZ2 category for 125cc machines.

“I'm really excited about this race and am so happy that Intrepid invited me to drive for the team,” he said. “It came about after they supplied karts for the Monaco Kart Cup and after that I went to visit them at the factory in Italy, where they have a very impressive set-up.

“Karting is one of my favourite types of racing and I'm so looking forward to driving one of the fastest karts around in this race.”