Clyde Valley Racing set sights on 2010

Team Clyde Valley Racing have announced some of the reasons why the team has been forced out of the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship – indicating that Cartridge World are not involved in that decision, and that the team hopes to be back next season.

In a press release issued by the team, Principal Colin Neill confirms that it was other sponsors not meeting their commitments that actually forced the team down to just one car at Knockhill for Gordon Shedden.

The team also confirms that other options were looked into in order to keep Team CVR/Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing on the grid for the remainder of 2009, but without success.

The team hopes to return to the grid next season, especially on the back of it’s great results seen to date in 2009.

Press release in full:

“Team CVR (Clyde Valley Racing) the organisation behind Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing officially announce their withdrawal from the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Colin Neill, Team Principal, comments “Firstly I would like to apologise to everyone involved within the team, our sponsors, fans, Seat Sport and the BTCC for our withdrawal from the championship which was unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control.

The support we have received this season has been tremendous for the team, we sat 5th, out of 15, in the Independent Teams Championship, a very credible performance in our first year of the ultra competitive BTCC.

The details of our departure from the championship are not overly complex, but some areas will for legal reasons remain confidential. We would like to share some elements of the circumstances surrounding the current situation as I put forward various solutions to Cartridge World that would have seen us compete until the end of the season providing them with extended exposure, even right down to the wire last Thursday morning.

Some key members of the team have been part of this project for more than two years and have been committed to making it happen. The team found itself in a difficult situation as we approached the summer break with a couple of key sponsors failing to deliver on their financial commitments to the team hence dropping down to one car at Knockhill.

The ironic thing is Cartridge World were pleased with the exposure generated by our Carbon Zero Race Team and how well our race program worked for their brand. During that relationship we also looked after their in-store VIP competition winners on race weekends which worked tremendously well for their franchise and franchisees alike. I would like to express my thanks to Cartridge World for meeting their contractual obligations and their continued support during our race program.

I also have to say that the team did a fantastic job last time out at Knockhill; our second place was taken on genuine pace. The whole team were looking forward to Silverstone where we would have been back to two cars. We made progress with the car set-up and both drivers were quite capable of taking podium finishes at Silverstone even though the competition would have been tough”.

Team CVR is now in preparation for their assault on the 2010 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship”