It has been over a month since Ilmor GP Team Principal Mario Illien announced the temporary suspension of the team’s race programme and now it’s time for an update…

Today at the Ilmor Engineering factory in Northampton Illien and Managing Director Steve Miller announced that the Ilmor GP race team will be slimmed down to a ‘skeleton’ crew focusing on the continued development of the engine – as a consequence many of the original Ilmor GP team personnel will be released from their contracts from the end of May 2007 onwards and will be free to pursue other opportunities.

Speaking about the announcement Illien said: “Whilst our commitment to finding a title sponsor and suitable Ilmor GP partners to make racing a viable financial option continues in full force, it is senseless to employ an entire race team when our track activity has ceased albeit on a temporary basis.

“I know that it’s hard for people to understand why we have stopped racing and some people have been quick to judge our withdrawal from the MotoGP World Championship but I remain upbeat and I still strongly believe that we will find a financial partner for the team. In the mean time we have to restructure and put in place a smaller team dedicated to engine development.”

“I attended the Dorna sponsorship workshop in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago and it is clear that further work needs to be done to make the sport more appealing to commercial partners” Illien added. “Key people outside of the sport don’t really understand what MotoGP is and the fantastic opportunity it represents by association. I also think that people perhaps underestimated the impact that the decline in tobacco sponsorship would have on the sport. Added to this potential corporate sponsors are much more environmentally aware these days – I’m a strong believer that environmental issues and professional motorsport shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. There are plenty of opportunities to be explored on this front.”

Whilst both Ilmor GP riders Jeremy McWilliams and Andrew Pitt remain under contract Illien has been happy to loan Pitt to World Superbike team Hannspree Ten Kate Honda for the race in Valencia whilst Frenchman Sebastien Charpentier recovered from his fractured coccyx and again this weekend in Assen as the team run a third bike at their home race.

Commenting on the riders Illien said: “I’m pleased that Andrew performed so well in Valencia for Hanspree Ten Kate Honda, he demonstrates the flair and ability that we still believe he has. Both Andrew and Jeremy have done a fantastic job for Ilmor GP under difficult circumstances and I want to thank them for their on-going patience and understanding. If all goes to plan and we manage to secure the funding to get back out for the remainer of the 2007 season then of course I would love to have both riders back on board.”

Ilmor boss Mario Illien said they had opted to suspend racing activity but would continue to seek a backer.

McWilliams returned to the GP circuit this year but did not compete in the opening race in Qatar after being hurt in a crash during final qualifying.

At 42 he was the oldest participant in the MotoGP series.

McWilliams had been riding alongside Australian Andrew Pitt for Ilmor.

"I am numb at the moment. It seems they are ceasing their racing activities because of lack of budget," said McWilliams.

"Everyone knows Ilmor were looking for a big sponsor. We have not had as much time on the race track as we needed for all that to fall into place.

"But there are always other opportunities around the corner and I will not let this deter me.

"I will be back on a bike somewhere in the near future, you can be sure of that.

"But I would like to work with the Ilmor team and help them develop their project with the V4 engine."

Ilmor GP Team Principal Mario Illien today announced that the team will not be attending the second round of the MotoGP World Championship next week in Jerez. The teams’ race attendance has been suspended for the immediate future however engine development will continue and Illien expects for the team to return to the MotoGP racing scene as soon as key financial partners have been secured.

At this early stage in the project, racing and developing the engine and chassis has proved extremely costly for Ilmor’s owners. Since the team launched last year in Estoril at the penultimate round of the MotoGP Championship good progress has been made but further development is needed to become fully competitive on track.

Commenting on the announcement Ilmor GP Team Principal and Part Owner of Ilmor Engineering Mario Illien said: “We discussed the situation in great detail internally and obviously it was an extremely difficult decision for us to make. However once we went through all the options, we decided that the best course of action for the sake of the project as a whole would be to put the racing side of things on hold and continue developing.

“I would like to thank Dorna, IRTA, FIM and our technical partners and suppliers for their on-going support and patience during this time. My heart is still very much in the team - we have had fantastic support from the public and the media with some great coverage worldwide. I would also like to say how enormously proud I am of what we managed to achieve in a short space of time - we have a good group of people who have worked incredibly hard over the past few months. Both riders, Jeremy McWilliams and Andrew Pitt have given their best during a difficult development time - I couldn’t have asked for more than that.

“We have important meetings and discussions over the next few weeks which will help us to establish the future of the project and team - I am determined to explore all opportunities available to us and I’m hopeful that there will be a positive outcome.”