Mondello to take sabbatical in '07.

Mondello Park will be missing from the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship calendar for the 2007 season when the schedule is officially unveiled by series director Alan Gow and his team.

The Irish circuit, which has hosted a round of the series since 2001, has reached a mutual agreement with the BARC and TOCA to switch its BTCC meeting to Thruxton due to 'logistical issues' with the support package - with the decision being taken now to allow both the BTCC and Mondello itself to finalise their respective calendars for the new season.

"Time is marching on and we all needed to finalise our calendars for next year," Mondello Park's John Morris said. "This is for 2007 only and BARC are running our round at Thruxton. We intend to host our own BTCC round again in 2008.

"There were a number of factors that influenced the decision for next year and we could have gone on for another month trying to make it happen and still have ended up with the same result. We decided it was better all round to reach a definitive agreement now, in order that we could all complete our respective calendars and offer our competitors dates for 2007."

Dennis Carter from the BARC added that he was hopeful that Mondello will be back in 2008 after a seasons absence.

"Obviously we will miss the trip to Mondello in 2007," he said, "but we will be working together to return in 2008."

The BTCC calendar is due to be released shortly once all dates have been finalised.