Matt Allison pulls out of BTCC

[trebor901]

Matt Allison has had to pull out of the next round of the BTCC and maybe the rest of the season due to a sponsorship deal falling through, Robertshaw Racing have said they have got a few drivers lined up to run along side Vaulkhard this weekend and for the forseeable future to keep them moving forwards.

I think this is a real shame as he was pretty quick in the Chevrolet at Donnington and he was just caught out and had that pretty big accident in the first race.

[Jimbob-18]

Bad news for him. Met him at Donington briefly to get his Autograph. Seemed a pretty nice guy and really unfortunate for him. He has the talent but not the luck. Let's hope he can return to the BTCC soon.

[trebor901]

it reminds me of what happened to his former team mate Gareth Howell last year at Motorbase.

[Icebaby]

Really bad news for both the team and Matt, good driver and deserves his place on the grid without a budget where as other drivers dont even with a budget.

Lets hope he does come back.

[Ed Peters]

Originally Posted by trebor901

it reminds me of what happened to his former team mate Gareth Howell last year at Motorbase.

Completely different circumstances!

Allison will be back in the BTCC!

[trebor901]

so will Howell at some point this year, all be it as a stand in for BTC

[cos]

Originally Posted by trebor901

so will Howell at some point this year, all be it as a stand in for BTC

He should be filling in for Oliver when the latter has truck-racing commitments. Howell was going to be racing this weekend, but Chris cancelled his previous business commitments...

[trebor901]

its good to see BTC moving forward because Chris Stockton has some pretty descent results at Donnington.

[awrb]

It's a shame about Allison, he is certainly better than some on the grid. But tbh, i don;t think he's ever really amazed me. He's been good, but not excellent. And a lot of drivers have been good.

For me, I con think of a number of drivers who have impressed me more.

Any ideas who could be stepping into the car?

[Icebaby]

Its not only a disaster for Matt Alison but also the team who have effectively lost their lead driver who has contributed to the development, this can only step the progress back short term which is a shame as having another manufacturers car is only positive to the BTCC appeal.

Alison had many sponsers on his car so I would have thought he would be the last driver to not be able to fund the drive, shame about his accident at Donnington which may have contributed to this decision.
I understand the driver has a damage budget allowance so judging by Matts comments this had effectively been used up so he would run at Thruxton having to front any damage out of his own pocket.

I hope the replacement is talented as well as funded as we have enough drivers in there based on money and nothing much else.

[crmalcolm]

Looks like Howell's got Stuart Oliver's seat so can be ruled out.

Howell in for BTC

[BootsOntheSide]

A real shame when sponsorship issues intervene to eliminate a capable driver and harm a team trying to bring a new car into the championship. Hopefully Matt will be back at some point and/or the team can replace him with someone capable.

As for Howell, he's never seem to live up to the hype, being far too prone to collisions and penalties. The article linked to gives no real clues as to why Oliver isn't in the car (truck commitments? sacked? the team promised Gareth this race before Stockton changed his mind? injury/personal issues?), so it remains to be seen who will drive the Toledo for most of the year.

[redshoes]

The article also seems to contradict itself. "ironically in the same SEAT Toledo he raced in 2007", yet "I’ll actually be in my 2007 team-mate Matt Allison’s car"

Originally Posted by Icebaby

Alison had many sponsers on his car so I would have thought he would be the last driver to not be able to fund the drive

He has lots of small sponsors, which is not always a good sign.

[KA]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

A real shame when sponsorship issues intervene to eliminate a capable driver and harm a team trying to bring a new car into the championship. Hopefully Matt will be back at some point and/or the team can replace him with someone capable.

As for Howell, he's never seem to live up to the hype, being far too prone to collisions and penalties. The article linked to gives no real clues as to why Oliver isn't in the car (truck commitments? sacked? the team promised Gareth this race before Stockton changed his mind? injury/personal issues?), so it remains to be seen who will drive the Toledo for most of the year.

The comment from Howell is: “Stuart can’t do this one"

It doesn't seem to be a truck racing commitment as such- there isn't a race meeting listed on either the BTRA or FIA calendars that I can see. However the Shropshire Show is included in the BTRA calendar- could it be a truck racing sponsor/team/business commitment that's keeping Oliver out of the car at Thruxton?

http://www.britishtruckracing.co.uk/...lay.aspx?id=20

[Icebaby]

Can Ten Tenths not sponser Alison in the Interests of the sport or can we all chip in to remove those bloody screen saver adverts which keep popping up on this site!

[Craner Curves]

Stay logged in, then it doesn't happen.

[Steevp]

This is a disaster! Matt's a friend of mine and know how hard he fought to get that drive this year, he's a hard working nice guy.

I've followed his career & he always beats his team mate and gets the maximum out of the car, it looked like they'd got the Chevy into the top 10 and were on the march forward, damn... I'm gutted for him.

[Icebaby]

Agree he has always had the measure of his team mate and I know he will do all he can to return especially for Snetterton his home race where his remaining sponsers based in Norfolk will fund the drive for that weekend I guess. I suppose deep down it annoys me to see drivers like Matt struggle to get the budget with no reward for their actual ability in reducing the money they have to bring.

It would be nice to see Chevy putting their hands in their pockets to help out and retain Matt to develop the car as he is an Integrated part of the future success.

There are many drivers who should be removed from their paid drive but Matt was not on that list.

[awrb]

Chevrolet wouln't help out cos that would be going against sister brand Vauxhall. It is a shame, but lets hope they can get someone talented not rich into that car. Anyone got any ideas who it could be?