Thompson, who has faced a financial struggle for much of his career, starred on his debut in a rear-wheel-drive BTCC car last time out at Snetterton, when he joined BMW team West Surrey Racing under the Zeus Cloud Racing banner.
But now the Sunbury squad has been forced to bench the Essex racer ‘due to financial complexities outside of WSR’s and Bobby Thompson’s control’.
Thompson won the Jack Sears Trophy sub-division in 2022 with the Team Hard Cupra squad, and was a podium finisher with the team in 2023, despite having to miss some rounds when the troubled Kent operation found itself having to recalibrate its commercial deals with its drivers.
The collapse of Hard over the winter appeared to put Thompson’s hopes of remaining in the BTCC in extreme difficulty, until he was given a test in one of WSR’s BMW 330e M Sports at Brands Hatch in early April.
The team was extremely impressed with Thompson’s performance, and a joint effort on the commercial side seemed to have borne fruit when he was able to make his seasonal debut at Snetterton last month, after missing the opening two rounds.
Thompson qualified fifth at the Norfolk circuit, and converted that to a second-place finish behind the sister WSR BMW of Jake Hill in the opening race.
He was third on the road in race two before a 10-second penalty dropped him to seventh in the results, and was eighth in the final race, in which he was forced to use the unfavourable hard tyres.
Those results netted Thompson the second-highest overall points score from Snetterton, behind only Hill.
Although neither driver nor team are able to comment on the record, they are understood to be on a good standing with each other, and are jointly working on new commercial opportunities for Thompson to rejoin the grid later in the season.
In a social media post, Thompson wrote: “This is hugely disappointing for myself, WSR and especially you fans who follow and support me.
“We will continue to work with WSR and commercial partners to ensure this is not the end of my 2024 BTCC season. Keep the faith as we are working away to get back on track.”
