WISBECH: McMillan furious at being forced to miss BTCC meeting at Oulton Park
WISBECH driver Liam McMillan is bitterly disappointed after being forced to miss this weekend s British Tour Car Championship meeting at Oulton Park because his engines have been kidnapped. French motorsport specialists Oreca have failed to return any
WISBECH driver Liam McMillan is "bitterly disappointed" after being forced to miss this weekend's British Tour Car Championship meeting at Oulton Park because his engines have been kidnapped.
French motorsport specialists Oreca have failed to return any of his units to power his Maxtreme SEAT Toledo for the 10th to 12th round races.
McMillan, 19, said: "I'm bitterly disappointed to be missing Oulton Park.
"We sent our engines away in good time and in good faith to be rebuilt by Oreca, but they haven't been returned.
"It hasn't got anything to do with myself or the Maxtreme team, but there appears to be an outstanding issue between Oreca and BTC Racing, the team who raced the Toledos last year and who we bought the cars off.
"We seem to be stuck in the middle of an on-going dispute and our engines, which we own, appear to being held as ransom. We have done all we can, and now it's up to others to do the honourable thing."
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McMillan's dreams of completing his first BTCC season now look in serious doubt.
Engine problems have blighted all three of his race weekends this season, as a newly-built 16v Toledo engine expired at Brands Hatch and at Thruxton, both after just 40 miles of running, leaving McMillan to struggle with an underpowered and older 20v unit on race day.
He also had to use the 20v engine at Donington Park, despite it having clocked-up twice the recommended number of racing miles without a rebuild.
Oulton Park is one of McMillan's favourite race tracks.
He won all three races there in his SAXMAX title winning season in 2006.
Despite having one of the oldest cars on the grid, McMillan was expecting a top-10 finish this weekend.
