Ram Racing will miss the 2014 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on May 3 due to “an embarrassing, temporary shortfall” in budget.
The team, which runs two cars in the FIA World Endurance Championship, made their WEC debut last weekend at Silverstone having stepped up from the European Le Mans Series as GTE Champions.
“This decision has been taken after much soul-searching and a massive amount of number-crunching, and has come as a bit of a body blow to us at Ram Racing,” said Team Principle Dan Shufflebottom. “We knew when we stepped up to the FIA WEC from the European Le Mans Series that the budgets required would be greatly increased, and we were fully confident that we’d meet our financial targets.
“However, we’re suffering an embarrassing, temporary shortfall and, in order to protect our participation at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and onwards in the FIA WEC, we have taken the difficult decision to not participate at Spa.”
Alvaro Parente and Matt Griffin in the #52 Ferrari 458 Italia, and Johnny Mowlem, Ben Collins and Mark Patterson in the #53 Am 458, were due to drive in the race, but will not now take part in what is considered a dress rehearsal for Le Mans.
“I would like to apologise to our drivers, our suppliers, fans and to the FIA WEC organisers for placing them all in this unenviable position, but sometimes hard decisions have to be made in order to move things forward in a positive way,” concluded Shufflebottom.
