Ascari quits sportscar racing

The Banbury-based company's boss, Dutch-born businessman and racer Klaas Zwart, has elected to put the majority of his resources into developing his BMW V8-powered KZ1 supercar.

And although the Team Ascari racing division will continue to prepare and run cars in the EuroBOSS single-seater series for ex-F1 cars, the company's primary sportscar project will be shut down with immediate effect.

This follows on from the disappointment of its early retirement from the Le Mans 24 Hours earlier this month, when Ascari's single Judd-powered entry retired with a suspension failure just hours into the race while running a competitive 15th overall.

The team had concentrated on running in the major endurance events this year, fielding two cars in the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours, where it scored a sixth-place finish, before looking to Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. The team was known to be deeply upset when it received only one entry for Le Mans having run two cars in the 2001 French classic.

The team's KZR-1 will continue to be tested and developed, but although a racing return has not been ruled out, the disbanding of the team and departure of team manager Ian Dawson make this unlikely.

Zwart said: "The sportscar racing programme has focussed attention on, and given credibility to, the Ascari brand. Many lessons learned have translated onto the road car. Now it is time to concentrate on every aspect of the road car - not just the car itself, but also sales and service support."

The team's LMP 900 class prototype, then badged the A410, first emerged on the sportscar scene in the spring of 2000 after being unveiled at the AUTOSPORT International Show.

After failing to pre-qualify at Le Mans it raced increasingly competitively in the FIA Sportscar Championship. By the 2001 season, lead drivers Werner Lupberger and Ben Collins were major title contenders, and scored the marque's sole victory at the Donington Park round.