BTC down to one.

Nick Leason has put his drive in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on hold as the BTC Racing team seeks to finally put an end to the reliability problems that have plagued the 2007 campaign.

While there have been flashes of promise from the ex-Speed Equipe Lexus IS200 - most notably last time out at Oulton Park when Chris Stockton was able to fight inside the top ten on more than one occasion - there have also been a number of reliability issues, most of which have affected Leason's car during the opening rounds.

Having missed the Croft weekend to allow the team to try and get to the root of the problems, Leason was then forced to sit out Oulton Park after falling ill - and has now made the decision to put his campaign on hold to allow the team to focus on making the cars competitive and solve the reliability issues.

"Unfortunately it has not gone our way and has got to the stage were I just can't continue the way it is," he said. "It made me see that when I had to miss Oulton Park due to illness. We still have major issues with engines and its reliability through the race weekend and sadly it is just not viable financially or practical for me to continue until we have solved this problem.

"It is so easy to want to take part every round as it is such a great championship and you just want to be part of it, but we need to get the car to the finish and it is just so frustrating for the whole team every time it is parked up in the pit garage when we have all worked so hard to be here on the grid. The team will continue to work hard to resolve this, which they hope to do by continuing to try to run Chris and concentrate on one car. I vow I will return, and hopefully soon if we can get it right!

"On the funny side the press release going out on Friday the 13th goes well with the luck I have had this season, but I look forward to it changing for the better."