Nika Racing postpone comeback yet again, targeting Morocco debut

Swedish privateer team Nika Racing have announced they will miss this weekend’s race in Hungary, the third round of the World Touring Car Championship season, citing sponsorship issues as the cause of the delay.

The team announced a one-car entry for John Bryant-Meisner at the start of the season in a Honda Civic WTCC, but that car was then sold to rival privateer team Zengő Motorsport just days ahead of the first round in Paul Ricard, with the team opting instead to purchase Hugo Valente’s Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1, which he drove for Campos Racing for the past two years.

The team proclaimed the short turnaround with the Chevrolet meant they would be unable to race in France, and aimed to be back on the grid in Slovakia, but then confirmed financial issues meant they would delay their return a further week until this weekend’s round at the Hungaroring.

However, on the eve of the first day of testing, the Katrineholm-based team have again announced they won’t be on the grid, now targeting starting their season in two weeks’ time in Marrakech, Morocco.

“The financial issues regarding John (Bryant-Meisner’s) leading partners are still a work in progress but could well be in place within a short period from now,” said the team in a statement. “Until then a new solution has been put together with a group of independent private investors who also will act as regular sponsors to John. They will guarantee that John and the team get a solid start of the season and give us the opportunity to develop the team again from a racing perspective rather than focusing on the financial matters only.”