The Mitsubishi Motors UK Rally Team has confirmed that Phillip Morrow has been dropped with immediate effect.
Morrow, who got the drive this season in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship alongside Guy Wilks after winning the 2007 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge UK, has had a difficult year since stepping up to the premier level in the UK.
Indeed while he overcame a stage one off on the Pirelli International Rally and only just missed out on a podium, he was less fortunate on the
Jim Clark, rolling the car three times on the opening stage and then hitting a bank on day 2 of the recent Rally Isle of Man.
Those incidents - in combination with Wilks on round two, when his car caught fire in SS4 and was completely destroyed - have left the Cirencester-based outfit with a considerable overspend and some disappointing results. Therefore, with Guy still in contention for the drivers' crown, Morrow has been released from his contract as a 'works' driver.
"This is a very unfortunate situation that we find ourselves in and we are disappointed to see Phillip leave the team," said team boss, Paul Brigden.
"We trust that this decision with allow him to pursue his career in another direction and we wish him the very best of luck with his future rallying campaigns.
"Following this decision we will now reassess our strategy for this year's remaining three rallies to see if we can still achieve our goal of retaining the British Team's and Driver's titles."
A spokesperson for the team meanwhile told
Crash.net that rumours Gwyndaf Evans will be drafted back in are by no means certain. Indeed the squad may now just run a single car in the BRC, although a definite decision on that will not be made until early August.
More to follow as and when we get it...
