Eco Racing has been forced to withdraw its new bio-diesel Radical SR10 from this weekends Twelve Hours of Sebring after the incorrect provision of homologation papers from chassis manufacturer Radical.
The team had headed to Sebring planning to start its campaign in the American Le Mans Series but will now return to England before starting its season in the fourth round of the year at Salt Lake City.
"We have been delighted to welcome Eco Racing into the ALMS and greatly regret the circumstances of this situation, which were totally beyond the team's control," ALMS CEO Tim Mayer said. "Eco Racing is exactly the sort of professional and innovative organisation that we seek to attract to our series and we look forward to seeing the cars competing in ALMS from Salt Lake City onwards."
The Eco Project was only formed back in December when race engineer Ian Dawson, businessman Simon Wright and driver Harri Toivonen sat down with Radical Sportscars to agree the scope of the new LMP1 programme.
Just eight weeks later, the car completed a brief shakedown with Wright at the wheel at
Snetterton before heading to America for its planned debut.
However, when the car was presented to the technical scrutineering team, the absence of homologation papers allowed only basic dimensional eligibility checks to be carried out.
"This is massively disappointing for all of us, but just strengthens our resolve to get to Salt Lake City and go racing," Wright said. "The interest and feedback we have received in the build up to this week and here at the circuit has been phenomenal and we would like to thank all race fans for the great reception we have had."
"Eco Racing has climbed a mountain in the last eight weeks and we knew we had another to climb here at Sebring," Dawson added. "We need to sit down with our chassis partner, understand the issues and use this time before Salt Lake City to test and prepare fully for the season ahead."
![The ECO Racing bio-diesel powered Radical LMP1 [Pic credit: ECO Racing]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/411242.jpg)
