The FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) returns to Race Sonoma this weekend, but Rotek Racing and driver Robb Holland will be noticeably absent. According to an article in Autosport, changes in FIA regulations for the upcoming 2014 season have caused serious issues for the team and the Ford Focus cars that they had planned on running. BMW is poised to leave the series as a result of the changes.
Here’s what Robb Holland had to say about missing the event in Sonoma, CA:
“Firstly, we’re very disappointed not to have made our home race at Sonoma, particularly for the American and Ford racecar fans, many of whom have taken the trouble to contact us to express their support since we made our original announcement. Secondly, within the team there is a feeling of unfulfilled potential. We’re confident from the testing we’ve already done with the car with just some of the developments and new bits Arena had designed for it bolted on and Mountune’s latest Ford Ecoboost engine upgrades, that the Focus would be much more competitive this season than it was able to show last year.”
“Currently though, we’re still assessing how the new-for 2014 regulations would affect our original plans and until we properly understand the full implications for our team no decision on next year’s program at least will be taken. Nevertheless, while this process has had the effect of stalling the testing program we had started and putting back our 2013 program, we haven’t yet ruled out racing the Focus this season in the WTCC and remain hopeful that we will still do so.”
“We hope that you will continue to bear with us.”
