Matt Hamilton forced to miss Croft

Hamilton, 20, who has driven a TH Motorsport-run Honda Civic-R this season, said he was "absolutely devastated" to see his BTCC programme stopping for the time being.

"We knew we were taking a bit of a gamble at the start of the year, but felt confident that we would be able to find a commercial partner to support us in such a high profile series," he said.

"We got very close to one big deal in particular, but it just fell apart at the last minute. The current economic climate is making companies understandably very cautious about investing in sports sponsorship."

"I am so grateful to the boys at TH Motorsport. They worked so hard to get my Civic competitive on very little budget.....they wanted to continue as much as I did. However, you cannot run a car in a championship like this on fresh air. I am very proud of what we have achieved as a team."

Hamilton currently lies 20th in the championship having taken his first points finish at Brands Hatch with a ninth place in a wet race. He is also 13th in the independents standings.

His participation in the second half of the season is in serious doubt, but Hamilton said he intended to work hard to piece together a deal to return from round six of the championship at Snetterton.

"You can all be rest assured that my family and I will be working extremely hard to raise the money to race again later in the season," he added.

"The BTCC is where I want to be, and I feel certain that you will see me battling back on track again in the future."