Matt Allison calls time at Robertshaw

Robertshaw driver Matt Allison, after only three rounds, has pulled out of HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship with immediate effect!
The former British GT Champion has announced that the reason for the sudden departure is due to a sponsorship deal falling through.

“I’m absolutely gutted by it,” he told Crash.net. “It was always going to be tight on money this year as a major sponsor we were talking to before the season was hit by the credit crunch, so we knew we would have to work on it as the season went on. We hoped to have something in place for Thruxton, but it hasn’t come off and we’ve had to call time on it. I didn’t want to go there half-heartedly and be worried that if I had an accident then it could bankrupt me.

Just as the team seemed to showing it’s performance with Matt scoring points in the first round at Brands Hatch and then showing some of the established teams the way with a top ten qualifying position at the last round at Donington Park.

It has come as a bit of a blow to some.

“We’ve lost Matt for the weekend at Thruxton and for the foreseeable future as a sponsorship deal has fallen through,” team manager Joe Bradley told Crash.net. “He has been working hard to find the budget and will keep working hard to find the budget and it’s a shame after Donington Park when we really showed we are moving in the right direction.

Matt went on to say: “If this is the end of the season for us, then it will be a chance to focus on getting a full budget in place for 2009 as I don’t feel like I’ve shown my best in the BTCC yet.”